Sunshine Valley Horror, Halloween Special
by TyrothDarkstorm
Summary: Halloween Special. A city that offers serene location and relaxing atmosphere is the excellent place for people to recharge their batteries after trying times. But when those times are hauntings, and the work of the ghosts is undone, the Haunter Committee decides to take action, despite the unfortunate name of the place. Sunshine Valley... yuck! Chapter 12 up!
1. Chapter 1

**Hiya people! I'm back for more, and this time, it's a bit different.**

 **With Halloween not far away, I present to you, my newest story, that of a Ghost Master. Enjoy!**

 **Sunshine Valley Horror**

 **Chapter 1**

 **In the Beginning**

Mortals are such amusing creatures, believing that they are the only intelligent creatures in their world, thought the term 'intelligent' is used very loosely. And while they are technically right, they are not alone, for they are constantly visited by entities from another realm. The mortals are aware of this realm, even though few believe that it even exists, they call it heaven, hell, the afterlife and countless other names, but those that reside there call it the Spirit Realm.

That is where spirits of the dead go once their pitiful mortal existence has ended, but they are not the only ones residing on that plane, elementals and spirits of nature already live in that realm, to name a few.

Now, don't think that it is a place of eternal torment or pleasure, the Spirit Realm has a strong connection with the mortal realm that must be maintained in special way, for the unliving require that the living believe in the supernatural. Belief generate plasm, a form of energy that strengthen the fabric of the Spirit Realm and its inhabitants. The mortals also need to respect the dead, while objects of interest need to be monitored.

That is the mission of the Haunter Committee. It consists of representatives of all kinds of spirits and ghosts, and they decide on what cities to send squads of haunters to, lead by specially chosen and trained Ghost Masters, to execute the missions given to them, scaring the mortals and helping restless spirits find peace enough to move on.

But as one would expect, most mortals do not enjoy being victims of a haunting, and there are those that actually pose a threat to the ethereal entities. Mediums, holy men and women and those with magical talent all have a certain spiritual connection with their own world, and can not only sense active ghosts, but also banish them from the area. And they are not the only ones. The Ghostbreakers are a group of mortals, who have developed technology that allow them to detect and banish spirits as well, and at a much faster rate.

Despite these enemies, the haunting teams are forbidden from deliberately taking the life of a mortal, even an accident could bring about grave consequences, not only for the ones responsible, but for the entire Spirit Realm.

This is the tale of one Ghost Master, and her first campaign.

* * *

"This is an outrage!" bellowed a fat ghost of an ancient Roman senator. He was Caius Talius, a Phantom and representative of the Frighteners on the Haunter Committee.

"Caius, please calm down. Screaming in protest will accomplish nothing." said a small fairy-like spirit. She was a Wind Elemental and represented all Elementals, going by the name of North Wind.

"And what, pray tell, should I do then? Nothing is being done either way! Mortals flock to this Sunshine Valley every summer to recover, undoing the terror that we have sown among them. And their slogan is nothing short of a mockery of the dead, claiming that everyone can rest in peace there. The gall! We have to do something!"

"You know fully well that our teams are already spread thin as it is." said a floating skull covered in a dim light. Saren, a Wisp of great renown, representing the Sprites. "And while I agree that this require our attention, we must take in consideration our limited resources. Though, they do have an impressive graveyard there, the finest in the area, if I may say so."

"Returning to business. As it is now, we don't have any Ghost Master available, and none can be spared from the other campaigns." said a female opera singer, her long dress torn and stained with blood. Her name was never spoken, she simply called herself Primadonna, this Banshee represented the Vapours.

"Then might I come with a suggestion?" said a dark ghost, looking like a man in old nightclothes, hovering above the large round table in a sleep like pose. He was Nightmare, one of the most feared Sandmen due to the horrid terrors he conjure in mortals' dreams. He represented the Disturbances. "If we're short on Ghost Masters, why not appoint a new one? We have several in training, have we not?"

"Out of the question! They lack the field experience needed for such a campaign, it would be disastrous!" snapped Caius.

"Silence." said a powerful voice, causing all the spirits to tense up. The voice belonged to Aqupam, a beyond ancient Spectral Dragon, the most powerful kind of Horrors. She was powerful and wise enough to rule the Spirit Realm on her own if she wished it.

"Field experience can only be gained on the field, expecting the students to acquire it without going out on the field is nothing but folly. I second Nightmare's proposition, at the very least it will allow us to maintain some influence over that city until a more experienced Ghost Master can be spared, if needed. Do you have any objections, Caius?"

"… No…"

"Then, if all are in agreement." Aqupam said, looking at the other members, all of which seemed to agree, or at least not disagree. She then turned to two ghost ravens perched on a wooden beam in the ceiling. Meeting her gaze, the two birds flew down and landed in front of her.

"Hugin, Munin, please go to the Ghoul School and inform headmaster Archion that we require his best student for a mission."

"It shall be done." the two spirits cawed.

 **And that's the introduction. More will come, if at a slow pace, I'm working on this when I get the chance.**

 **As a final note, as this story goes on, I will upload pictures and some information on the main character and the team on my Diviantart account, link will be in my Fanfiction profile.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **Mission Briefing**

"… and that is the decision of the Committee, headmaster Archion." cawed one of the two ravens, as they had explained the task presented by the Haunting Committee.

Archion, a robed old man with bald head, long white beard and kind eyes, stroked his beard, as he always did when in thought.

"I see..." he said calmly. "Please tell the Committee that I will bring my best student to them as soon as possible, once we're ready."

The two ravens nodded and returned to deliver the reply. As they took to the dark sky, headmaster Archion continued to stroke his beard while processing everything. He already knew who his best student was, but the question was, was she ready? And was he ready to let her go?

Sighing, he knew that he couldn't continue to coddle her for eternity, she had done very well during her training, better than most, and while she hadn't completed it, he did believe that she was ready. But not knowing exactly where she would be posted, or what she would face, worried him, especially since the mortal know as the Ghostbreakers had been able to create a weapon that could destroy spirits. While the Ethereal Bomb had been destroyed in the successful campaign of Gravenville, the Ghostbreakers were still at large, and could possibly build another bomb.

* * *

Sitting on a high branch of a tree overlooking the dark landscape, was the ghost of a young woman, dressed like a highwayman from the late 1700s, wearing a dark hooded cloak that barely reached her waist, a black mask that covered the upper half of her face, and a long dagger hung from her belt. Her cause of death was clear for all to see; gunshot to the heart, her clothes were still bloodstained around the wound.

"So, here you are. I should have known." she heard a voice on the ground. Turning her head, she saw Archion walk up to the tree.

"Headmaster. Have you been looking for me?" she asked as she floated down from the branch.

"Indeed I have, child. I have just received a message from the Haunter Committee, they requested my most skilled student for a campaign of quite some importance."

"Really? And who have you chosen? Grim? Or maybe Slasher?"

"Oh no, my dear Josette, while they are both skilled, as are several others, but I have decided that you are the most suited for this."

"Me? Why? I haven't even finished my training yet."

"You have great skill, and even greater potential, all you need is some time in the field and I'm sure you'll become a good Ghost Master."

"I am not sure I agree, but I trust your judgement, headmaster. I will not let you down."

"I know, child, I know. Now, come, they are waiting for us."

* * *

Arriving at the grand castle that the Committee used as their headquarters, Archion and Josette were met in the entrance by the spirit of a lawyer, complete with business-suit and briefcase.

"Welcome headmaster Archion." the spirit said, adjusting his glasses. "And this is your chosen student, miss…?"

"My name is Josette."

"Miss Josette. I'm Charles, and I've been assigned to you by the Committee as their representative and your aide. It is my job to relay you the missions given by the Committee, as well as supply you with information and monitor your progress. I will also do all the paperworks required, such as mission reports, applications for special training for your squad and much more that you don't have to worry about."

"I remember when Ghost Masters had to do those things themselves, but now everyone require help with it." said Archion.

"Times have changed, and there is a lot to keep track of, too much for majority of the Ghost Masters to handle while also managing their field duties. Speaking of which." Charles opened his briefcase and handed a leather-bound book to Josette.

"This handbook will be your most vital tool in your campaign. I will keep it up to date with all the information on your squad, mortals present at a haunting and any restless spirits that you make contact with. It will also allow you instant travel through spectral portals, it is with this you reach the hauntings you will be assigned and can return here if required or necessary. Please open it and pull out an empty page and place it here on the table."

Doing as asked, Josette tore out a page from the middle of the book and placed it in the middle of the table. It piece of paper suddenly started to unfold itself, even though it was only one layer of paper. It continued to unfold until it almost covered the large square table, and patterns formed on the paper, taking the shape of a city-map.

"This is a map of the city that you will be assigned to, Sunshine Valley." said Charles.

"Sunshine Valley?! What kind of name is that?" said Josette shocked. "I thought that I would be assigned to a town with a name like Gravenville, Slaughter Creek or Tombstone. Sunshine Valley sounds so…"

"Happy? Yes, I know. And that's part of the reason why the Committee have decided to assign a Ghost Master there. According to my research, the city was once know as Dead Valley, acting mainly as large grave-field, but a few decades ago the mortals changed the name, hoping to turn it into a popular tourist area, while still retaining their historical significance, using a slogan that states that everyone can rest in peace there. The Committee was not very happy about this, but it got worse when they learned that many mortals from areas of other campaigns, travel to Sunshine Valley to rest and recover, the hospital's therapists have been busy helping them as well, undoing much of what we've achieved."

"A question, if I may." said Archion, and Charles nodded. "If this area is such a problem, why has not actions been taken sooner?"

"Lack of resources, we got Haunting teams all over the mortal realm, but we just don't have enough to cover everything, and until recently, Sunshine Valley, while known of, wasn't such a large problem as it is now. But I have faith that miss Josette and her team will handle this. Speaking of which, allow me to introduce the Haunters assigned to you."

With a snap of his fingers, four other ghosts phased through the wall and hovered in mid-air on the other side of the table. One squirrel, a typical white ghost with a large chin, dreadlocks and a high hat, a swarm of what appeared to be wasps or bees, and a lizard with fire burning on it's back and head.

"This squirrel is Twitch, a Gremlin. As you well know, Gremlins have been seeing a lot more use over the years, due to the mortals relying so much on their electronic devices. Just don't expect him to sit still for any longer period of time, he is hyperactive without its like.

Spooks are well known for being versatile with their powers, and Jabu here is no exception, though I have a hard time understanding what he's saying, but maybe you'll learn to understand him.

This mass of insects is a Horde called Swarm, and you can count on mortals fleeing in terror at the mere sight of it, many seem to have great fears of bugs. An entity consisting of countless minor spirits, and despite being unable to talk, I think you'll have an easier time understanding Swarm than Jabu.

Lastly, you got the Fire Elemental Firecracker. Mortals have always been vary of fire, and with this noble salamander at your side, you can bring back that ancient fear they all possess. Also, he can use electricity as fetters, just like Gremlins.

If there is anything else you wish to know about them, you can either ask them or consult your handbook, which will contain much information about them. Sadly, you will have to make due with only these four, lack of resources like I said, but I am confident that you'll be able to expand your team with new recruits during your campaign."

"I understand. When do I start?" Josette asked.

"If you're ready, you can start now, we will arrange a portal there immediately. Your first objective is to establish a Ghoul Room, as you need a base of operation. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to locate a suitable location yet, lots of paperwork, but I will continue searching."

"Thank you, but I think we will try to find a place on our own, if you don't mind."

"If you like, I will not stop you. Still, I'll keep an eye out, just in case. Now, take your map and go to the courtyard, a portal will open shortly."

 **Now things are starting to happen. We've met our Ghost Master, and her starting team. What kind of things will they meet in the mortal realm, find out next time.**

 **Also, I'll be publishing images and short bios of the team on my Divantart page. Link is in my profile, as well as under here.**

 **gallery/56389033/Ghost-Master-Fanfic**

 **Sadly they'll all be classified as Mature, just to be on the safe side.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **Ghoul Room**

Gathering in the courtyard, Josette had butterflies in her stomach. She had longed to become a fully fledged Ghost Master, but now that the time had come, earlier than it should, she was very nervous about the task that laid ahead of her, not to mention that she would be alone, aside from her team. Still, she put on a brave face, 'cause there was no backing out now, she would succeed.

A green vortex suddenly opened in the air in front of her and her team, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"There, this portal leads to high above the city. You should have a good view from there, in your search for a suitable base location." said Charles. "But I must ask you to hurry, the nights in Sunshine Valley are a bit on the short side, being that far south and summer right now."

"I understand. Do you have any more advice?"

"I do." said headmaster Archion. "Trust in your team and yourself, and remember what I've taught you."

"I will, headmaster, thank you." she then looked at her team, they looked too a bit nervous, but mostly they were eager to get to work. "Time to head out, boys."

The five ghosts entered the green swirling portal, and in a blink, they were gone and the portal closed.

"You are worried about her, are you not, headmaster Archion?" Charles said.

"Is it that obvious? Well, it is true, I do worry for her safety, especially since that incident with the Ethereal Bomb in Gravenville."

"Understandable, but I think this goes deeper than just teacher student relationship."

"She… reminds me of my daughter, back when I was still alive. We had a falling out after she turned twenty and I never saw her again. Josette fills that void left after losing my daughter, and I see her as that."

"So that is the reason. Hmm. If it will make you feel more at ease, I will keep a close eye on her and any possible threats. If I find anything, I will report it to you as well as the Committee."

"Tank you, lad."

* * *

In a flash of green light, a group of five spirits manifested in the sky above Sunshine Valley. Such a spectacle would have attracted a lot of attention, but despite the power of the portal, mortals were unable to detect it, let alone the ghosts arriving through it. Only when a ghost or spirit taps into the powerful plasm generated by the mortals themselves, to use their powers, could a select few mortals pick up on the otherworldly presence.

"There is a lot of ground to cover." Josette said as she let her eyes sweep over the city beneath her and her team.

"So where we start, mon?" Jabu asked in a thick Jamaican accent. Josette thought for a moment.

"We will split up, each going in one direction. Be on the lookout for any building that looks… homely, and is a bit out of the mortals' way, but be careful. We meet back her at midnight, that gives us a few hours."

With that, the group scattered, each of them keeping their eyes peeled for a suitable place. But as Josette returned without having found anything, so did Jabu, Twitch and Firecracker, all three of them with the same result, nothing. But Swarm had yet to return, but with all hope laying with a collection of insects, Josette wasn't overly hopeful. She was however pleasantly surprised when Swarm returned, seemingly excited, though it was hard to tell over what.

Swarm buzzed loudly as it moved wildly in front of the others, and the insects formed an exclamation mark in a cartoon-like fashion.

"Have you found something?" Josette asked with renewed hope.

Taking the form of a hand giving thumbs up, Swarm then formed an arrow and pointed to the north, along the coast before leading the way.

They travelled for more than an hour, reaching the outer rims of the city, and finally they saw what Swarm had found. An old and worn apartment building with a café on the entire bottom floor, five additional floors above as well as a basement, all of it walled off by a tall wooden fence built when the building was abandoned, giving it a small courtyard where a few trees grew. All windows were boarded over, though a few boards had either fallen off or been broken by someone, but it was still almost impossible to see inside.

But blocked windows and locked doors were no more of a hindrance than an open field for a ghost, and the five ghosts entered the building through the southern wall to inspect the place. But they were not the only ones there.

A group of seven mortals, dressed in typical gang clothing and each with a tattoo of a purple, serpentine creature, the symbol of their gang. From their behaviour, it was easy for Josette to determine that they were criminals, most likely hiding from the law. But it didn't matter who they were, if they were good or bad, they were not welcomed in what would become the Ghoul Room.

Taking a few minutes to survey the area, she learned the layout and where the thugs slept, kept their loot and more. Most of the time, the criminal mortals kept mostly on the second floor, and if they could be kept from going higher up in the building, it would easier to get rid of them.

"I got a plan." Josette said to her team, and started to delegate the tasks to the others.

The mere unease of the present mortals gave the ghosts enough power to be able to manifest. Taping into the plasm to fuel their powers, Swarm made the first move.

Going over their latest haul of stolen loot, jewellery mostly, the mortals noticed a faint buzzing sound above them. Looking up, they all were shocked to see a large area of the ceiling covered by crawling wasps. While they looked, the insects took off and flew against the mortals, causing a panic.

"Where the hell did these bugs come from?!" one yelled out, ducking under the swarm.

"I don't know, but I'll roast them good!" said another, picking up a can of spray paint and a lighter, planing to use them as an improvised flamethrower. But shortly after lighting the lighter, the small flame flared up and streams of fire shot out in every direction, lighting the entire room on fire.

To make matters worse, many of the loose burning objects suddenly started flying around in the room. Between that and the raging insects, that seemed unaffected by the fire, a few of the thugs lost it and headed downstairs to try and escape the place, screaming as they fled out and climbed over the fence.

As sudden as the fire had started, it all died out, leaving no marks on anything that had been burning. All the bugs were gone as well, and the flying objects landed here and there, leaving the remaining mortals confused.

But before anyone had the chance to do anything, a ghost appeared out of nowhere and got right up in the face of one of the thugs, scaring him out of his mind. As the man ran for the exit, the hat wearing ghost pursued him, making sounds as he did so, but once the man was outside, the ghost vanished.

The remaining three mortals looked around nervously, as it had become eerily quiet. Then the swarm appeared again, taking the shape of a giant monstrous head, and once again swooped against the men. By now, they had had enough and headed down to the bottom floor, closing the door behind them to stop the insects from following them, and it seemed to work. But they were not as safe as they thought.

Being in the old café, where the electronics and devices were still functional and powered, as the city had never bothered turning off the electricity to the building, a certain gremlin had the perfect tools at his disposal. Before the mortals could get a chance to calm down, Twitch tapped into the plasm and drew all the power he could, unleashing a shockwave of energy, unnoticeable to the mortals, but the effects weren't. Every electrical appliance in the large room, from the toaster-ovens and coffee-makers to the fridges and ovens, came alive and moved in way not physically possible.

Not capable to handle any more, the last thugs fled the field the same way their comrades had before them.

"Screw this! The boss can get that thing himself!" one cried as the climbed over the fence.

Looking at the scared mortals run for their lives, the ghosts were having a laugh, really enjoying their job.

"Look at dem run, mons!" Jabu said.

"That was fun." said Firecracker. "I'd say we got our Ghoul Room now."

"That is right. Great job everyone." Josette complimented, proud over the success of both her plan and team. "I believe we have all earned some rest, so use the time well until we get our first mission."

 **Now that they have a proper base, Josette and her team can get to work for real. Just what kind of missions will they be given, and what difficulties will they have to face? Find out more, next time.**

 **Also, anyone notice the little reference to another series that I work into this chapter? If you've read some of my other stories, you should know this. Hint; it has to do with the thugs.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 **Quality Scare**

It hadn't been more than a few hours since Josette and her team had secured their base of operation, and all the ghosts had made themselves at home, each finding a place that they would claim as their own spot.

Jabu had found a comfortable place in the café canteen, relaxing over one of the tables, reading an outdated newspaper, while the Gremlin Twitch, hung out by the coffee maker. Swarm, on the other hand, had found a living wasp nest outdoor, that the Horde felt a special kinship with.

Firecracker had his sights set higher, and moved to the top floor, where the only open fireplace in the entire building was located. Lighting a phantasmal fire to sleep in, the Fire Elemental wasn't going anywhere for a while.

Josette also settled down on the top floor, in the largest of the apartments, claiming the bedroom as her personal chamber, while the living room became her 'office'. Placing the map on the table, she studied the layout of the city for a while before retiring to rest and recover.

* * *

But once those hours had passed, a green portal opened above the Ghoul Room, and Charles appeared, adjusting his glasses before heading down to meet with the team. Phasing through the roof, he entered the map room.

"Miss Josette? It is me, Charles. Are you here?" he said, announcing himself. Hearing this, Josette entered the room.

"Yes? What can I do for you?"

"You have secured a fine Ghoul Room. Impressive, and a promising start. But, I'm afraid I come bearing bad news. There is a risk that you may not be able to stay here."

"What?! Why not? Is it someone on the Committee that-"

"Please, calm down and listen. While doing additional research on the area, I found evidence of a businessman that has plans on building a shopping-centre in the city, and they are thinking of selling him a large portion of land for that purpose, this area to be precise."

"And we that just barely have settled in here, and now we have to find another base?"

"I'm afraid that might be the case. However, they haven't agreed on everything yet, so until they do, you're safe. I'll keep see what more I can find out about this, see if I can find a way to stop their plans, and if I can not, I will locate another Ghoul Room for you, you have my word on that."

"I suppose there is nothing else we can do then. Thank you."

"There is no use to worry about this now, we'll cross that bridge when we reach it. In the meantime, I have your first mission for you. Normally, I won't deliver it personally, but rather leave a message for you via your book and map, but considering the other news I had, this seemed more appropriate. If you would be so kind to summon your haunters, I'll brief you all on the mission."

* * *

A short time later, Josette and her team had gathered in the map room, and Charles began explaining the situation, starting by touching a spot on the map. Shortly after, a piece of the paper rose and unfolded into a small house with a green glow above it.

"The flow of plasm in the city is rather low," he began. "since there is very little unrest among the mortals. That is the main reason of this campaign, and this home is your first target. Inhabited by a family of six, it should be a perfect start to both spread the fear of us and gain some field experience for yourself. The main reason for choosing this particular house, is that there are several restless spirits that, if saved, most likely will join your squad, adding to your forces. When you are ready, simply touch the green light above the map and a portal will open here, but I recommend that you wait until tomorrow night, as dawn will be upon us shortly."

"Understood. We will begin tomorrow then."

"I wish you all the best of luck, and I'll be in touch as soon as I discover anything."

* * *

Day came, and the ghosts slept peacefully in their respective places, all except Josette, who spent a fair amount of time thinking about what she had been told, from the danger to the Ghoul Room, to the mission ahead of her, especially the restless spirits trapped in the house. She knew that it wasn't easy for a spirit to be trapped somewhere, and she was familiar with that feeling, both before and after her death.

According to mortals, restless spirits are ghosts of people that can't move on to the afterlife, and they weren't far from the truth, but there was more to it. While those that died had the risk of not being able to move on, it mostly happened to those that had been murdered, betrayed, or had something else that they couldn't leave behind, the reasons were as many as there were people.

But even spirits that had been dead for centuries or longer, even Elementals that weren't even 'alive' to begin with, could become trapped in various ways. Dream catchers and vacuum-cleaners were all too common causes for trapped spirits.

The main worry she had, was that she wouldn't be able to help them, that they would remain trapped. She didn't want to fail them.

* * *

Once night came, Josette and her team emerged through the green portal above the house. Their mission was clear; save the trapped spirits and scare away every mortal that lived there. Josette flew ahead to scout the building, and find everyone that were there. According to her handbook, there were six mortals present, the parents and their three children, one of which was in her mid-teens, while the other two were roughly ten, and finally an uncle.

The house had two floors, with all the bedrooms on the top floor, together with a guest room and an office room, while the ground floor had a kitchen, a dining hall and a living room. The youngest of the children were asleep in their rooms, while the teen was still awake and doing something on her computer. The father and uncle sat down in the living room, watching the TV, and the mother was preparing dinner for the next day.

As Josette investigated the house, she saw one of the ghosts that were trapped there. A small jack-o-lantern hovered over the unlit fireplace in the living room, a green ethereal chain binding it to one of the several candle blocks on top of the fireplace. Noticing the rookie Ghost Master, the spirit immediately seemed to become happier and greeted her.

"Hiya, I'm Jack. Yeah, yeah, I know, Jack, Jack-o-lantern, really original, right? But let me tell you, I was Jack before there even was any 'o-lantern'. Maybe you could help me, you see, I got stuck by this candle after I fell asleep one Halloween, and the mortals put out the flame and placed the candle here. Think you can do something about it?"

"That is why we are here. I will see what I can do for you."

"Great! I'll wait, eh, well, here then." Jack said with a wide smile.

Leaving the ghost to find the other restless spirits, Josette noticed that her handbook vibrated for an instant. Opening it, she found a pair of pages that changed before her eyes, text being written and a picture of Jack appearing. The information consisted of what he was, his powers and anything else she could need to know. Except how to help him, that seemed to be something she had to figure out on her own.

Moving up to the second floor, she heard a splash from the office, and curious she went to investigate. Inside the office, she found what one would expect of an office room, a desk, a computer, archives and a water dispenser. Suddenly, the water inside the dispenser moved a little on its own, and a small figure appeared. Vaguely feminine, the small humanoid had webbed hands and feet, a fin-like growth on the head almost resembling a tiara and light blue skin. Just like Jack, she was chained to the water inside the dispenser.

"A Water Elemental."

"Hail, spirit. Please hear the woe of poor Flow. Long has it been since I was trapped by mortals' machines, bottled up inside this foul container, never to be released. I beg of you, please set me free, and I will aid your cause."

"I promise, I will find some way to help you."

"Thank you, kind spirit."

While trying to think of a way to help this spirit as well, Josette left the office, also wondering if there were any more spirits trapped in the area. That question was answered when she reached the guest room, and saw probably one of the strangest ghosts she had ever seen. At first she thought that it was a ghost zombie, but taking a closer look, she saw that that was not the case, it was in fact only a costumed ghost. His bare right foot was a shoe, and the knife through his head was part of the plastic wig he wore, all the tears in his clothes were deliberately made and the wounds were fake, with the exception of the gunshot wound where his right eye should be. It seemed like he was chained the room itself.

'This should be interesting' she thought as she approached the ghost. Seeing her, he wasted no time telling his tale.

"All my life, I've been haunted by bad luck, and when things finally look up for me, bang, I'm dead. Happened right outside this house too, and now I'm a ghost stuck here. I tried to scare people, since I looked the part, both before and after my death, but they can't even see me, just my luck. I guess I just don't have the power to do anything."

That sounded like an easy enough problem to solve for Josette. She could allow him to tap into the plasm that they used to get the energy he needed for his powers, that should allow him to be able to scare someone. But at the moment, the amount of plasm was so low, that even her own team would have a hard time to use their powers. They would have to start small, use the less powerful abilities and soften up the mortals, building up more plasm slowly but steady, eventually they would be able to go all out and send the family fleeing in terror.

Promising to help him, Josette then returned to her team to think out a plan. She then sent her team to various areas of the house, to start the haunting for real, but they had to be quick, if the mortals started to calm down too much, the plasm would start to falter and dry up.

* * *

Twitch zipped into the kitchen, all the electrical appliances there would allow the hyper rodent to work wonders. Choosing the oven as his fetter, he used his Spark power to start things off, causing the machine spark violently with blue electricity. This sudden event caught the attention of the mother just as she was about to leave, and just as sudden as the sparks had started, they stopped. Curious, the mortal woman walked over to the oven to investigate, and that's when Twitch unleashed his favourite power, Wild and Crazy.

Without any warning, every electronic device went berserk. The fridge and freezer opened their doors and threw out food a plenty, while the oven constantly opened and closed, smaller appliances jumped around on the benches and the radio broadcasted all the different stations at once, resulting in chaos in the kitchen, and the woman running screaming out of it.

The screams alerted both the father and uncle, and shortly the woman ran into the living room. But before any of the men could ask what had happened, they all heard a loud moan echoing in the room, followed by a swarm of wasps appeared from underneath the couch and the lights going out.

The Wisp Jack watched amused as the haunters assailed the unprepared mortals, and he could feel how their terror generated more plasm for them to use, and while he was still trapped, he could use his own powers to some extent. Deciding to pitch in, he tapped into the plasm and powered up his Human Torch. The fire within him flared up, and the uncle burst into flames without any kind of warning. Too shocked and terrified to even notice that the fire wasn't hurting in any way, the man ran out of the house, throwing himself on the ground and started rolling to put out the flames.

Laughing as he enjoyed his handiwork, Jack gave up the plasm that he occupied, so that the others could use it, even though the amount of plasm had increased to good levels. Shortly after, he noticed that Firecracker gathered a rather large amount of power and unleashed his Bonfire, setting the entire living room ablaze, which proved more than the mortal couple could take, as they left the room in a hurry, going to the second floor to gather their children. But that was not the only thing that happened. As the fire ignited everything, and lit the candles, the chain binding Jack snapped and faded away.

"Oh yeah! Now this really brightens my day! I owe you big time for this, so you just tell me what to do. This is gonna be fun!" Jack cheered as he was freed, falling in line with the rest of the crew. Josette was pleased to welcome the new addition to her team, and directed most of them upstairs. While it was very likely that the parents would flee the house with their family, she couldn't let them leave yet, they were still needed to free Bobby, and possibly Flow as well.

* * *

Jabu and Swarm were the first to move to the second floor, to start work on the children and keep the parents at bay. Swarm occupied the hallway with the stairs, the army of insects forcing the parents back down, while Jabu went after the first of the children. They were already awake from the sounds downstairs, and Jabu wasted no time using his Kinesis in the room of one of them, causing every little toy to fly around, scaring the ten year old quite a lot.

Meanwhile, Josette had discovered a handy feature of her handbook; by having the page of a Haunter open, she could communicate telepathically with said Haunter. She wasn't sure how she had managed to miss that, but at the time she didn't care, it was an advantage that she would use to the fullest of her abilities. Checking the powers of the still trapped Bobby, she concentrated and sent him a message.

"Bobby, can you hear me?"

"Yeah, I don't know how, but yeah."

"Do you know how to use your powers?"

"Uh… I guess so."

"Then tap into our plasm supply and use Hidden Maze, that should cause someone to arrive at you. Also, use Fascinate to draw in the mortals even more, once someone's there, hit them with Spooky Surprise."

Bobby wasn't sure if he could manage what she wanted him to do, but he tried his best. Feeling the power build up inside, he activated the first one, Hidden Maze, and somewhere in one of the house's doorways, a swirling blue portal opened, only visible to ghosts. Any and all mortals who passed through the portal, would be instantly teleported to the doorway leading to the room where Bobby was.

* * *

In the teenage girl's room, she had only now noticed that something strange was happening, having been completely absorbed in the social media on her computer, and for no reason, she felt drawn to the guest room, but she resisted the urge to go there. That was when Jack struck, binding himself to the computer and using his Brief Scare, he popped out of the screen, completely visible.

"Boo!" he shouted, scaring the girl so she fell of her chair. Suddenly, the guest room felt like a good place to hide, and she hurried to the door once he got back on her feet, but as soon as she stepped through the door, she immediately found herself in the guest room. Had she been a ghost, she would have seen the blue portal in the doorway, but as it was, she had no idea of how she got there, and she never had the chance to figure it out, as a zombie-like creature appeared before her, hovering over the floor. With a quick motion, Bobby pulled off his head, holding it in front of himself.

That was more than the young girl could handle, and she ran as quick as she possibly could, down to the bottom-floor, out of the house and as far away as she could get from the horror she had seen.

Back in the guest room, the chain that bond Bobby to the room broke, and he was free.

"Whoa! I didn't even know I could do that! Guess I've finally found my life's calling, or death's, I don't know, doesn't matter. Lead the way."

* * *

With both Jack and Bobby free, that left only Flow to be rescued, but Josette wasn't sure how. Going back to the office where the Elemental was, she tried to think of a way to free the poor spirit. She was thinking of letting Jabu try using his Kinesis to break the bottle, but then she noticed something about the dispenser, it was a modern one, with electronics, and now the answer was as clear as day.

"Twitch, I need your help in the office." she said telepathically, and the small Gremlin replied with several squeaks before hurrying to her side. Once there, he received his orders and bound himself to the computer, unleashing his Wild and Crazy, and every device went nuts, including the water dispenser, which started to empty itself of all its water. Soon, the floor was pretty much flooded, and Flow was free.

"Again may I follow the currents wherever they may lead. From the core of my essence, I thank you, kind spirit, for giving me back my freedom. I am forever in your debt."

"You owe me nothing, I am just glad that I could help. But if you want to help, then I will gladly accept it."

"Then I am at your service. Again, thank you, kind spirit."

"Now, let us deal with the remaining mortals, and we can be off."

That was a far easier task than Josette had expected at that time, since the rest of her team and continued to harass the mortals. Bobby and Jabu had been able to send the mother, and the remaining two children, screaming into the night, only by appearing in front of them. The father was a little tougher, but not enough to withstand the constant barrage of ghostly powers from Firecracker and Twitch, who had joined the Fire Elemental after helping Josette, and it wasn't long before he too fled the house in terror. Meanwhile, the uncle had finally worked up the courage to enter the house again, only to be met by a swarm of angry wasps, forcing him out again. Swarm continued to chase him around, and it wasn't long before Jack joined the fray, setting the man on fire again, and sending him running into the dark night like a living torch.

With all the mortals scared away, the mission objective was complete, and a portal opened above the house. The ghosts felt a pull from it and knew that it was time for them to return to the Ghoul Room together with the new members. Josette felt both proud and happy that they had been successful with their first mission, and even more that they had been able to help the restless spirits.

* * *

Once they exited the portal, Josette's hand book vibrated a bit. After opening it, she found a page that stated that she had earned Gold Plasm as reward for successfully completing the mission, along with a lot of statistics of her performance. Gold Plasm was rewarded to Ghost Masters, and was used as a form of currency that they can pay for new powers to their Haunters. Glancing over everything on the page, Josette would check what she could teach her team later, right now, they had all earned a rest.

The new additions to the team quickly found a place of their own in the Ghoul Room. Flow made her home in the shower in an apartment on the third floor, while Bobby had found a stuffed ferret that he seemed to like being near on the fourth floor. And Jack kept himself outdoors, near the old electric sign belonging to the café.

With seven Haunters on the team, things were looking good for Josette and her team, and after their victory, belief of the supernatural would start to spread little by little, but they still had a lot to do before their campaign would be successful.

 **And that ends their first real mission, quite a success if you ask me. But there appears to be danger ahead, as their base may not be theirs for much longer. Check in next time for more. Happy Halloween!**

 **Also, check my Deiantart page for new pictures of the new team members, will be up in the near future.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 **Spook at the Office**

It had been a couple of days since their first mission, and with the team rested and the new members all settled in, they were all starting to get a bit restless, wanting to go out on another mission. But it had been quiet from Charles since they got the first mission, but considering the threat to the Ghoul Room, it wasn't surprising that he was busy elsewhere.

Trying not to think about that, Josette had used the time as well as she could, going through her handbook, more specifically the pages with her team. Since acquiring Gold Plasm, additional information had been added to the pages, new powers that could be bought with the Gold Plasm, and how much they cost. There were many interesting options, but as one would guess, the stronger the power, the higher the cost. As it were, she could only afford a few of the lower tier powers, but choosing which ones and for whom was a difficult choice, so she instead decided to save the Gold Plasm for a later time.

Leaving her room, she walked over to the map and looked at it. The raised paper house representing the house they visited earlier still stood where it was, but now it had a flock of tiny ethereal bats flying around it, signalling that the mission there had been completed. Josette still felt proud of that, but then suddenly, a new paper building rose up from the map, this time looking like a small office building, meaning only one thing. A new mission.

"Finally." she said, glad that the wait was at an end, and called together the Haunters for the briefing.

* * *

With all the spirits gathered in map room, Josette reached out and touched the new paper building, then they all heard Charles' voice from the map.

"I bring you good news, Ghost Master. While the deal concerning the selling of this land is all but finished, they still have not signed the contract, it and the deed to this area are both kept in this office according to my research. Without these documents, it will be impossible for the mortals to legally do anything that would threaten your Ghoul Room. Find and destroy the documents, and feel free to take your revenge on those that attempted to sell your base. Have fun. Oh, and one final thing, you will only be allowed to bring five Haunters with you, so choose wisely."

Five Haunters he said, and Josette had seven, she had wanted to bring her full team, not wanting to leave anyone behind, even at base, but at least they could keep an eye on things. She thought for a while on which to bring with her, a far from easy task.

"Firecracker, Twitch, Jack, Flow and Jabu, you are going with me. Bobby, Swarm, please keep an eye on the Ghoul Room while we are gone."

"You can count on us." said Bobby, and Swarm took the shape of a hand giving the thumbs up.

With her team ready, Josette touched the green light above the building, opening a green portal above the map for them to enter.

* * *

Arriving outside the office, the team saw that it was just a few floors bigger than their own base, shouldn't take too long to scout, but where might the documents be? Josette flew ahead to find out.

Pretty much every floor was filled to capacity with offices, with only a few exceptions, such as the ground floor that also housed a lobby, and the basement, where there was a large archive room. Further more, all floors had a set of bathrooms, and the second floor had a canteen, and on the top floor was the owner's own office, larger than the others and with several paintings on the walls. Despite the late hour, there were a surprising amount of mortals working at the office, and that pleased Josette, as they might need the extra plasm that the mortals' fear would generate, and it would allow her team to both practice and have some fun. Scaring two mortals with one boo, as her mentor used to say.

Once Josette had the layout of the place, she continued with looking for any possible restless spirits while trying to figure out where to start. Passing through one of the bathrooms, she almost ran straight into another spirit, just nearly avoiding a collision.

"Be careful, you simpleton!" the spirit yelled at Josette. Taking a proper look at the spirit, she saw that it was an electric eel, with blue electricity crackling around it every now and then, chained to the sink.

"You are in the presence of the mighty Voltic, king among Gremlins! State your business, or leave me to my misery."

Josette had to force herself to keep a straight face, she knew that they didn't have that kind of hierarchy among the spirits, so the Gremlin's claim was nothing more than empty words, yet she could feel that he was powerful, and a valuable ally, so she had to play it safe.

"It was not my intention to offend you. I am Josette, a Ghost Master sent here on a mission by the Haunter Committee. Is there anyway I can help you?"

"Hmm, perhaps you can. As you can see, I and this sink are bound to each other, and this unholy union has severed me from the lightning that I once wielded. Bring my thunder back to me, and I will be free."

"I will see what I can do." she said, continuing on her way.

A short while later, after going through the rest of the building and finding no more restless spirits, she had made her way to the basement and the archive that it housed. It had row upon row with filing cabinets and a small stone figurine of some sort that seemed oddly placed, but Josette didn't pay it much thought, instead she quickly checked the labels on the cabinets to see if she could figure out where the documents they were after where.

"What are you looking for?" a calm and monotonous voice suddenly asked. Josette spun around and her eyes searched the area, but saw no one else. However, looking a little closer, she saw that the rock figurine was moving slightly, now looking vaguely humanoid with a short but broad build.

"I didn't expect to find an Earth Elemental here. What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I am waiting, for the curse to be lifted."

"A curse?"

"Yes. A long time ago, these hairless monkeys signed a pact with others of their kind, claiming the land where I resided for their own. Since then, wherever the pact goes, I go. Only when the pact is broken, will I be free." First now did Josette notice the chain binding the Elemental to one of the cabinets.

"Sounds a little like our own problem, we are also looking for documents that we need to destroy. Do you know where this pact is kept? Is inside this cabinet?"

"I do not know, it might be, or in another one of those that are here, but it is here somewhere."

"I will see what we can do. I will be back." Josette said and returned to her team, thinking up a strategy as she flew there.

"Here is the situation, we got two spirits trapped here, while I try to figure out a way to help them, I want the rest of you to spread out and start scaring the mortals, so we can get the Plasm flowing. Just don't scare away too many of them, we might need them in some way."

* * *

Said and done, the ghosts scattered and bound themselves to different areas and things all over the place, ready to strike at the mortals within a moment's notice. Twitch started the haunting by using one of the many computers as a fetter, and using Spark, the man sitting by the computer, got so scared that he spilled his coffee over his lap. The burning hot liquid caused him to yell and jump up from his chair, alerting everyone else on the floor.

Then the lights went out in the room, and that event was followed by a loud moan. Now the four workers were starting to get nervous, and things were about to get even worse as the invisible quartet of ghosts were just getting warmed up. Jack took over, using his Shattered Nerves power to unsettle the mortals, making them even more vulnerable to whatever came next, and that happened to be a little combo that Firecracker and Jabu both enjoyed, maybe even a little too much.

Every loose object in the room slowly began to float upward, barely noticeable at first, but once they were all lit on fire, everyone were ducking under the swirling, burning objects as they moved at high speed.

It didn't take much to scare the mortals half to death, they were laughably weak-willed and not far from breaking, but they would be spared, at least at that time. The team had been ordered to only keep the mortals on edge, in case they would be needed, and would move from one area to the next, keeping the pressure on the mortals, while Josette figured out a way to both help the trapped spirits and find the documents they were there for.

Her first objective was Voltic, while she wasn't sure he really deserved any help with his attitude, at the time every spirit was a valuable ally, there was also the possibility that helping him might make him a little more humble. With the Water Elemental Flow in tow, she returned to the bathroom where the eel Gremlin was trapped, looking around to see what her options were. Being a bathroom there were, of course, a lot of water based fetters for her Elemental, but water alone wouldn't be enough, as the eel had lost his electricity. Then she spotted the solution to her problem, and electric hand dryer.

"Twitch, I need your help with this." she said telepathically to the little squirrel, who happily squeaked in response.

"Flow, if you would be so kind, we need to soak this room in water." Josette then said to the Elemental.

"I shall do my best." Flow said and bound herself to another sink, not wanting to use the toilets unless necessary. Channelling the Plasm, she created dark clouds by the ceiling and rain started to fall. Once the rain was under way, she used the power of Flood, making water seep through the floor and filling the room with several inches of water, all while Voltic eyed the two with both suspicion and hope.

That's when Twitch arrived, and following Josette's directions, he used the hand dryer as a fetter. With all the water and everything wet, his Spark had far greater effect than usual, electrifying everything in the room, including Voltic. He too sparked wildly as the electric current filled his spectral form, smiling in pleasure when his chain snapped in two and disappeared.

"I had almost forgotten the feeling of lighting after being trapped here. And now that power is mine again! I am in your debt, Ghost Master, and, at your command. Set me upon our foes, and I shall show them real power."

"You will get your chance, but first I have to see to another spirit that has been trapped here."

* * *

Hurrying down into the basement, after sending the three spirits at her side to aid the rest, while calling for Jabu, Josette hoped to be able to help the Earth Elemental Bedrock. Once there, the greatest problem with freeing Bedrock was still to find the right document, but first they needed to get inside the many cabinets, for despite their powers, opening them was not an easy task. However, from reading up on the restless spirits in the building, she knew that Bedrock could help, so she asked him to use an Earth based power called Tremor.

The Elemental slowly lifted his arms above his head, and brought them down, slamming them against the floor, sending a shockwave of power through the entire room, shaking it so that every cabinet was opened. Jabu then followed up with Kinesis, pulling out every single piece of paper from the cabinets, covering the floor with them.

Josette had come to the conclusion that it would take far too long to search for the papers they were looking for, so since they still needed to destroy them, they might just as well destroy all the papers in the archive, just to be certain. Now they just had to wait until Firecracker showed up, he had been very busy scaring mortals and had fun while doing so, having found one mortal that was deathly afraid of fire, whom the Fire Elemental focused wholeheartedly on, together with the Wisp Jack. Once he was done, he hurried to his Ghost Master's side.

"You called?"

"Yes, Firecracker. We need to destroy all these papers, think you can do that?"

"That's easy, I'll turn it all to ashes. Just need a fetter and I'll get right on it."

Contrary to what one would think, an electrical fetter can't just be any form of socket or lightbulb, as they don't possess enough electricity, not even fluorescent tubes are enough, it has to be some other form of electrical devices. After a quick search, the salamander found what he was looking for, a surveillance camera. Josette had not noticed the camera earlier, but she wasn't worried, all the camera would catch were the cabinets open, the papers fly out and them soon bursting into flames, all of which would only further increase the mortals belief in the supernatural.

Firecracker unleashed his flames, using even more heat and power than normal, and everything made out of paper instantly caught fire and was burned to cinders in mere seconds, fast enough to destroy everything before the sprinklers could start.

But once the papers were completely ruined, the chain tethering Bedrock snapped and faded away, freeing the Earth Elemental from his prison. It seemed to take a short while before he even noticed that he was free.

"Ah… I am free." he said in his slow, monotonous voice, though there was still a hint of joy in it. "Now I may return to the land which I once called home, but it is far away from here. May I stay with you instead?"

"Of course you may." Josette answered with a smile. But that smile vanished when she noticed that something was off.

There was no pull from any portal, not like when they had succeeded with their last mission, which meant that they weren't done yet, and Josette soon realized why.

"The deed and contract were not here." she said. "They must be kept somewhere else, but where."

Using the telepathic powers granted by the handbook, she focused hard to send a message to all her Haunters at once.

"Our targets were not in the archives, spread out and see if you can find where they are."

* * *

All the ghosts, Josette included, searched high and low for the papers, but with little success. That is, until one of them took a closer look in the owner's office.

"Ghost Master, this is Voltic." the eel said through the telepathic link. "I believe I have found what you are looking for, I will wait for you in the main office."

Hearing that, Josette hurried to that room, where the Gremlin waited with a sly smile.

"The mortal was clever. Look behind that painting, inside the wall." Voltic said, nodding at a painting of a forested landscape.

Josette moved through the painting, and saw what he had found, a hidden safe, and inside it, she saw a thick letter with several papers inside, the deed and contract. She felt her spirits lift, but she was unsure of how to destroy them, the inside of the safe offered no fetters that any in her team could use, at least no any with the powers to destroy the documents. They needed to open the safe somehow.

However, before she could think of a plan, the owner barged into the room. He was a man in his forties, with a heavily receded hairline, and he seemed upset.

"In all my years," he said. "I've never believed in ghosts and such nonsense. But with everything that's been happening now, I'm not sure what to believe. I can't believe that I'm doing this, but I can't see any other option, I have to call those Ghostbreakers, let them deal with this mess."

"The Ghostbreakers?! Voltic! Stop him!" Josette cried out, terrified that they would have to face the dreaded Ghostbreakers. And she had all right to be afraid.

The only mortals that could threaten the ghosts, were mediums, holy men and women, witches and psychics, and they were not overly common or active in combating ghosts. In fact, there were even a few that helped spirits move on, that respected the Spirit World, but the Ghostbreakers, they were a whole different story.

Ordinary mortals, though often with some form of scientific expertise, that were equipped with technology to not only detect, but also banish and even capture spirits they crossed paths with. After their defeat in Gravenville, the organisation would be after vengeance, and Josette did not want to tangle with them now, she was not ready for that kind of foes, hence why she had to do something quickly. And Voltic wasn't slow to respond.

Just as the owner reached for the telephone, the Gremlin bound himself to it and unleashed one of the most powerful electrical powers, Surge. The entire room, and every electronic device within it, began giving off violent sparks, electrocuting the man so his skeleton could be sighted every few seconds of the short surge. It didn't hurt him, but it still stung like hell, and was more than enough to cause him to faint once the effects had passed.

"That was too close. Good job, Voltic." Josette said, with a sigh of relief. But then she heard something behind her.

"Look." Voltic said, pointing at the painting behind Josette. And when she looked at it, it had swung ajar as a door, together with the door to the safe. It was an electronic lock, and while that hadn't helped them before, the Surge had short circuited it, leaving the safe wide open for the ghosts.

"What a stroke of luck. Now we can destroy the documents."

It didn't take long before Firecracker came to Josette's side, and once again used his Bonfire, this time destroying the real documents.

* * *

Once there was nothing but ashes left of the deed and contract, a portal opened above the office building and the team felt its pull, returning to the Ghoul Room, with two new additions.

While Voltic had claimed that he was a king among Gremlins, choose to settle down near a dishwasher, in the kitchen of the café-part, which seemed strange for a so called king. The Earth Elemental Bedrock stayed outside, under one of the trees, and even though Josette didn't think it was possible, the very calm spirit seemed to be even more relaxed.

He wasn't the only one that relaxed, shortly before they had entered the portal, they heard Charles' voice telling them that the Ghoul Room now was out of danger, as well as congratulating them on a job well done. With all that accomplished, and new team members and Gold Plasm, Josette felt exhausted and headed to her chambers to take a well deserved nap before doing anything more.

 **Phew! That was a bit too close for our team, but they made it, with some new ghosts added to the team. And now their headquarter is safe, but the Ghostbreakers seems to be present in the region, and that might be a far worse threat than they have faced yet.**

 **New pictures of the newest team members will be up on my Diviantart page soon. Do check them out.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 **You Must Be This Scared For This Ride**

Josette was woken from her well needed slumber. Still not clear on what was happening, she saw the Water Elemental Flow hover next to her bed.

"Flow? What is the matter?"

"Please excuse me, kind spirit, but a new building has just appeared on the map. I felt it necessary to inform you."

"I see, thank you, Flow. But what kind of mission could it be? We only recently returned from the last one. Would you be so kind and summon the others?"

"Of course." the spirit answered and swam away through the air and walls.

* * *

Just like their Ghost Master, the team also wondered what awaited them. The sun was just setting, which was quite early compared to their 'normal work hours', and it was less than a day since the mission to safeguard their Ghoul Room.

With everyone gathered, Josette touched the new landmark, an old and worn down house, and they all heard Charles' briefing.

"My apologizes for this ill timed message, Ghost Master, but we have discovered something that you and your team might enjoy. Rumours of your recent victories have spread across the city with surprising speed, and have caught the attention of so called 'Ghosthunters', mortals who have devoted their lives to prove that we ghosts exists.

While we have nothing to gain by helping them achieve their goal, adding some wood to their fire will only help us in the long run, as their belief is a good source of plasm. At this very moment, they are on their way to the Haunted House, in the city's amusement park, hoping that the spooky atmosphere will draw in ghosts.

Allow them to witness your power, draw strength from them and use it to aid the spirits that are trapped in the park, but hurry, for time is running short. We are allowing you to bring your entire team for this mission."

Josette thought about the mission ahead, it was rare that the Committee allowed a Ghost Master to bring more than eight Haunters on a mission, but she was allowed to bring all nine of hers, granted it was only one more. But as Charles had said, time was of the essence.

"Well, you heard our orders, time to get to work." she said with a smile as the portal opened.

* * *

It felt strange to be on a mission early in the evening, the sun hadn't set yet, but they had a quite small window of opportunity, since the amusement park wouldn't be open for much longer. Luckily, it didn't take long to find the Haunted House, it looked very run down and actually quite spooky, it would have been a perfect Ghoul Room if it hadn't been for it being in the centre of a popular area.

Easily finding the group of mortals that were there looking for real ghosts, Josette ordered her team to amuse the group, while she searched for the spirits somewhere in the large park. But she didn't get very far, as she instantly got a message from Jabu.

"'Ey, boss mon! We tink we found one of'da ones you be looking for 'ere!"

She was a little surprised, but also relieved that they had found one so quickly, so she headed to Jabu as quickly as she could. It was an interesting ghost she laid her eyes on, that of a clown, dressed in an orange suit with blue and purple striped arms and collar, a pointy hat, big yellow shoes and an umbrella in his hand. He seemed to be chained to the room itself, and was as sad as his make-up was supposed to make him look. As soon as he saw her, he started talking.

"Oh woe is me, the saddest of sad clowns, who never brought laughter to others, just fear and tears. Poor Chuckles couldn't take it any more, and my life ended from the poison I drank, yet my torture continue, for here there is no laughter, only fear."

'This will be challenging to solve.' Josette thought to herself. It was clear that she was dealing with a Phantom, a ghost of someone creative, or insane, which is very potent with emotional and mind based powers, but figuring out exactly what he wanted wasn't easy because of his madness, mild though it might be.

"Sounds like this guy could use a good laugh." said Jack. "A really good one."

"Jack, I think you just found the answer." she said. "If he could make a someone laugh, I think that might set him free, but now the question is how." Josette quickly turned to her handbook, reading the page on Chuckles.

As she did, the Ghosthunters entered the room, looking for signs of real ghosts, and they were about to, as the Ghost Master had found what she needed and issued commands to her squad. They began using their powers, but only low tier ones, as they didn't want to scare these mortals as they would any other.

Moans echoed in the room as the heat rose and thunder could be heard far away. At first the mortals didn't think overly much about it, they were in an attraction that was meant to be spooky, but when stranger things started to happen, they got excited.

First, water began leaking from parts of the room where it wasn't possible, and strange thorny vines with flowers grew out of the floor, just for all of it to just vanish without a trace.

"That has to be some kind of ghost!" said a young man with thick glasses.

"You're so gullible." said a young woman. "It was clearly nothing but holograms, had it been a real ghost, we would have witnessed something much stranger."

"A sceptic among the ghosthunters? I guess they need someone to keep them from jumping to conclusions." said Josette, but the mortals couldn't hear her, not unless she wanted them to. "I think she will be a perfect victim for our next trick. Chuckles, would you mind using your Twister on her?"

The clown looked at the Ghost Master with confused eyes, but did as he was asked, it wasn't like he had anything else to do or place to go. With a spin of his umbrella, his ghostly power took hold of the woman. Suddenly and forcibly, she was pulled up off the ground with a shriek and turned upside down, slowly spinning around as she levitated above ground. The other mortals were almost as shocked as her, but before they could do anything, she was released from the ghostly power and fell to the ground, shaken but unharmed.

"That…. was so cool! There really are ghosts here!" she cheered once she had caught her breath, and actually laughed as adrenalin still flowed through her system. The others soon joined her as they were more excited than ever after the display of otherworldly powers.

"Laughter? They are laughing?" Chuckles said in disbelief. "All I ever wanted as a clown was to make people laugh… and now I have finally succeeded. I feel… I feel free."

The chain binding the ghost broke and faded to nothingness, and the clown was released from his torment.

"Ah, but alas, maybe it is my fate to scare others, but then so be it. May I accompany you and your… merry band of ghosts?"

"It would be my pleasure, and I am certain that we will be more than adequately amused by your contribution." Josette answered with a smile.

* * *

With Chuckles, and his array of powers, the team had all they needed to entertain the hunters, which they did sparingly once they had built up a good supply of plasm for them to use, all while Josette resumed her search for the remaining restless spirits. But where to look?

A faint voice reached her ears, carried softly on the wind, asking for help. Following the plead for help, she flew across the park to find the source of it. A balloon had gotten caught in a tree, its string having tangled itself in the branches, and bound to the balloon was a small fairy-like spirit, an Air Elemental, pink in colour and looking like she wore a dress.

"Ah, finally a kind soul heard my call for assistance." she said. "I am Soar and the sky is my home, yet now I found myself trapped with this strange sphere. Mortal hands unknowingly sealed me inside a prison of metal, then moved me to this. I thought that I would be free when they lost the sphere, as it moved in the wind as I used to do. But as you can see, fate was not on my side, and once again I found myself trapped. I would really appreciate if you could set me free."

"You will soon feel the winds of freedom again, worry not." said Josette, as the task of popping was a simple one, yet she had to admit that she wasn't sure exactly how to do it. After some thought, she got an idea that might work.

"Bedrock, I require your aid." she sent a message to the Earth Elemental, and a few minutes later he arrived at the tree.

"You called?" he asked in his monotonous voice, and Josette explained her plan.

Bedrock slammed his arms into the ground, channelling his Flower Power through the soil. Dozens of vines shot up from the ground, growing upward and ensnaring the tree as Bedrock focused on the balloon. In a matter of seconds, the vines had reached the balloon and wrapped themselves around it, slowly squeezing it with the thorns digging into the plastic, and it exploded with a loud pop, releasing the air and gas within, as well as the spirit's essence.

"Thank you, thank you so much! Now can I follow the winds wherever they may take me, and they blow in your favour. I will remain at your side for as long as you need me."

"I am glad to hear that, Soar, your assistance may be very helpful. Have you seen any other restless spirits in this area?"

"That I have, there is one that seems to be trapped in ice that is not cold, inside a mortal home with much of that strange ice. Another resides in a pond with many, many ducklings."

"I see, then we'd better find and help them." said Josette, trying to figure out what Soar described. Not having any real kind of connection with the mortal world and customs, majority of the Elementals didn't understand what many things the mortals did and used were, which made it hard for Josette to know what Soar meant, but she didn't say anything about it as she too was unfamiliar with much due to her age. She instead asked the Elemental to show her where she had seen the spirits.

* * *

Meanwhile, the rest of the team continued to amuse the ghost hunters with their tricks and powers. Though they also sought out other of the late time guests for a bit of variety, wanting some victims that actually got more scared than entertained to keep the plasm flowing. But little did they know that that would attract unwanted attention.

* * *

Soar led Josette to a strange little stall, inside there was a large tub filled with water and nearly a hundred rubber ducks with small metal pieces on their heads. According to a signpost, apparently mortals used a magnet to 'fish' for the toy ducks and won prizes based on symbols on the bottom of the ducks, a simple and rather sweet game in Josette's eyes, but it was not what they were there for, but rather the spirit in the water, chained to the tub.

A beautiful mermaid with long blue hair that moved like it was under water, her scales were ocean blue and her fins turquoise. Josette actually found herself staring at the entity, not only because mermaids were a really rare kind of spirit, but also because she was so beautiful. Noticing the Ghost Master, the water spirit looked at her, her turquoise eyes locking with Josette's green and the Ghost Master felt that she blushed, but it quickly faded when she saw how sad the mermaid's eyes looked.

"Hello, I am here to help you." Josette said after quickly gathering her thoughts again. "My name is Josette, what is your name?"

"I am Nereid…" the mermaid answered with a voice soft as velvet but still sad. "For many moons have I been forced to remain in this foul place, unable to leave since my bond with the ocean was severed. Oh how I yearn to be reunited with the grand seas of the world again, to swim with the waves and currents of the oceans once again. If you can truly help me, then you will have my eternal gratitude."

Josette moved closer and gently took Nereid's hands in her own to comfort her.

"You will be free from this place, that I promise you." she said with a soft smile.

A short moment later, Flow arrived, having received a telepathic message from Josette.

"You summoned me, kind spirit? How may I aid you?" Flow asked.

"We need to overflow this tub, get the water to return to the sea." Josette said and pointed at one of numerous drainage holes on the floor. Flow understood what she meant and bound herself to the water inside a bucket on the edge of the tub. Her powers cascaded from her as her Rain summoned dark clouds and heavy rain fell, filling both the bucket and the tub, but she didn't stop there, she used her Flood power to make the bucket overflow with even more water.

The combination of the two water powers quickly filled the tub up to the edge and more, toy ducks following the water as it started to go over the edges and onto the floor, only for the drainages to swallow all the water, funnelling it down into the sewers. The ducks stayed on the floor, not able to pass through the small grates.

"I do not see how this will help." said Nereid.

"The water will reach the sewers, and from there it will eventually reach the ocean again." explained Josette. "If we keep pouring the water from the tub into the sewers, you should have a connection with the sea through the water already there."

With that explanation in mind, Nereid was a bit doubtful that it would work, but she could feel how the water moved underground, making its way through a maze of pipes and finally joining the sewer-water deeper down. As soon as the flow of water joined the one in the sewer, Nereid could feel how all the water was connected, how it moved and where it flowed. It was filled with mortal filth and worse, but she could feel all the way to the ocean far beyond all water-purifier stations. The waves, the currents, all the aquatic life, she could feel it all as her connection reformed and the chain dissolved.

"It worked! I can feel the sea again! I am free!" Nereid exclaimed and quickly left the tub and swam through the air for a short while before giving Josette a big hug.

"Thank you." she said, not noticing that Josette was blushing again.

"You… are most welcome."

* * *

Soar continued to show Josette where the last spirit was trapped, and the small group arrived at a building that the mortal referred to as a funhouse. Entering the building, Josette was surprised to find a large room with row upon row with mirrors, but the thing that was the strangest, was that all the mirrors were curved, each in a different way, distorting their reflections.

'This must be the 'ice' Soar spoke of. Mirrors.' Josette thought to herself. 'I wonder what kind of spirit that is trapped here.'

"Hello? Is someone there?" she heard a male voice ask out aloud. "If anyone can hear me, please, I require assistance."

Following the voice, Josette couldn't find anyone in the area, until she looked into one of the mirrors and saw another figure in it. A blonde male in a blue shirt and purple pants stood in the mirror. He was also heavily distorted, his feet and shoes twice as long as they should have been, his legs were very thin, his torso was very broad, his arms long and thick and his eyes three times as big.

"Ah, finally someone that heard me, what a relief. I am Clarence DuChess, and I require your assistance to break free of this mirror."

"Of course I will help, but how did you get trapped in there in the first place?"

"Some… associates of mine thought it would be a fun idea to bring me to this place, to see me squirm from seeing my fair features twisted by this laughing-mirrors. As you can see, it didn't work the way they planned, the shock was too much for me."

'He is just as vain as some of my old suitors, no, he's even worse, no wonder he has become a Fetch.' Josette thought to herself. 'Still, I can not leave him here, and his powers could be of use to our campaign.'

She quickly consults her handbook, looking through the powers of both her team, the rescued spirits and this Clarence.

"This might work." she said after a while. "Clarence, I need you to use Ethereal Gift."

Hoping that she knew what she was doing, Clarence did as asked and created a small gift-box with a large ribbon tied around it, it materialized on the floor of the room and had a very alluring presence. This kind of ghostly object was meant to be interacted with by the mortals, having physical form, and it allowed nearly any ghost to use it as a fetter to be able to reach areas normally out of their reach, especially when the mortals carried around the gift.

With the gift in place, Soar bound herself to it as Josette instructed, and drew power from the plasm the rest of the team had generated. Then she unleashed a Shattering Song so loud and high-pitched, that every window, mirror and glass item in the building shattered into thousands of pieces.

His imprisoning mirror broken, Clarence should have been happy to be free, yet, looking at his still corrupt form, it was a bitter-sweet victory at best.

"Why do I still look like this? Should I not become normal now that I am out of the mirror?" he said.

"I am afraid not. Ghosts often have their forms twisted and demonized after their deaths, and there is no way to change them back." said Josette.

"So I am cursed to remain like this for eternity then?"

"I am sorry."

"'sigh' It can not be helped I guess, at least I am free. And I do not have to look at people doing all kinds of faces, you do not know how frustrating it is to see that every day."

"No, I do not, but I do hope that you will find it less frustrating to see the scared faces instead, if you would like to join us."

"I can not think of much else to do, and I suppose I owe you for helping me, so I will gladly help you in return."

"You owe me nothing, but I will gladly have you on the team." said Josette with a smile.

With all the ghosts rescued, and thus their mission completed, Josette was expecting a portal to open, but that never happened, instead she heard an urgent telepathic message from Charles.

"Be warned, Ghost Master! A member of the Ghostbreakers has arrived at the amusement-park, apparently summoned by someone that didn't appreciate your activities. Until this threat has been dealt with, we can't risk opening a portal to your Ghoul Room. Engage this enemy with care, they have proven to be formidable."

"Everyone, stop using your powers immediately!" Josette shouted telepathically to all Haunters. "A Ghostbreaker is here! Do not use any plasm, just meet me above the Haunted House!"

* * *

A short moment later, the spirits all hovered high above the Haunted House.

"So what should we do, boss?" Jack asked.

"I am honestly not certain, I had not expected to face the Ghostbreakers so soon."

"But 'e's just da one mon. It be easy to scare 'im away, boss mon." said Jabu.

"Do not be so sure. They are trained to face us, and their weapons are very dangerous. We must be careful."

* * *

Meanwhile, a woman in grey overall walked through the amusement-park as the visitors were starting to head home. She had a strange looking rifle in her hands, connected with a cord to the backpack sized machine strapped to her back. Using her left hand, she pulled up a small device and swept the area in front of her with it, keeping her eyes on the display.

"Hmm, definitively traces of ectoplasmic activities, and recent as well." she said. "But they have gone dark, must be hiding, but why? Did they spot me? Doesn't matter, I will find and deal with these spectres."

Using the scanner, she continued her search, trying to find the ghosts, and it didn't take very long until she found a high concentration of residue from the ghosts' powers, originating from the Haunted House.

Entering the attraction, she kept her scanner and rifle ready, constantly checking her surroundings. Finding a real ghost in that kind of area was like finding a needle in a haystack, even with the scanner, but at least it could point her in the right direction. Unfortunately, even though it was a more advanced version than what they had used in Gravenville, it still wasn't able to detect ghosts that weren't tapped into the plasm that they used.

As she reached the large room where the ghosts had amused the group of young mortals not long ago, her scanner detected the traces left behind from all the powers that had been used there. She was getting closer, she was certain of it. Then the scanner peaked, signalling that something requiring a good amount of plasm had just appeared, and it grew in power.

Loose objects suddenly started flying around the room, some of them vaguely aimed at the Ghostbreaker, and while she was surprised, she kept her composure, ducking under the objects. Taking a quick swipe around her with the scanner, she checked the readings and smiled.

"There you are." she said as she aimed her rifle and fired it. A stream of white energy shot out from the muzzle, seemingly against nothing, but it did hit something in the air. The ghostly visage of the Spook Jabu became fully visible and he screamed in both shock and pain as the white energy actually harmed and restrained him.

"Got cha!" she said triumphantly, but suddenly her scanner started beeping like crazy as it picked up multiple new contacts, and Jabu smirked.

Without warning, the Ghostbreaker was pulled off her feet and ended up dangling upside-down in the air, the sudden event causing her to drop her rifle and thus releasing Jabu from its grip. But she tried to stay in control of the situation, grabbing the cord and pulling the rifle to her hands, she shot in every direction she could, hoping to hit whatever that manipulated her.

As suddenly as she was picked up, she was dropped from the invisible grip, landing on her stomach. The ghosts now had the advantage and they were not going to let it slip them by, going on the offensive.

Jack appeared in front of the Ghostbreaker, flames engulfing himself as he flew through her head. Her heart raced as she turned around, looking for the Wisp, only to come face to face with Bobby, who held his own head in his hands, making her take a few steps back in shock. But she was stronger of will than most mortals, and forced herself to focus on the job, aiming her weapon at the ghost, only for him to disappear.

Strong winds and rain struck her face as strange weather formed inside the room, then it all burst into flames, forcing her to rethink if staying was such a good idea. Deciding that it was better to make a tactical withdraw, she headed for the door, but she never got that far. A powerful electrical shock stopped her in her tracks, and by the time it wore off enough for her to move again, vines had sprouted from the floor, blocking her way, and a large swarm of insects attacked her from all directions.

Despite her training, she was nearing her limit of what she could handle. Then she was set aflame, and that was the last straw. Forcing her way through the vines, she ran out of the Haunted House burning like a torch, her rifle trailing behind her on her way out from the park.

"That took a little more effort than expected." said Firecracker as the ghosts watched the Ghostbreaker flee.

"Yeah, she was a tough one." said Bobby looking back at Jabu, who seemed a little drained.

"Are you all right, Jabu?" Josette asked the Spook.

"I be fine, boss mon, but dat 'urt real good."

"Try to be more careful in the future, while it did give us the opportunity we needed, it could have cost you dearly."

"Will remembah dat."

"Well, I suppose all is well that ends well." Josette said, then she felt the familiar tug signalling that a portal had opened for them. "Our mission was a success, and now it is time to return to base."

* * *

With the new recruits in tow, the spirits arrived back at the Ghoul Room, relieved that the mission was over. As fun as it had been, it was a little stressful with the sudden appearance of the Ghostbreaker, not to mention that the mission had been very sudden to begin with, but now they could finally relax.

Clarence chose to reside in the dining-hall of the café, as there was a large mirror on the wall as part of the décor, and more often than not, he would be inside the mirror.

The Air Elemental Soar settled near an air intake that was actually working in an apartment on the top floor, where she could see long distance.

As for Chuckles, the Phantom found his place in the living-room of an apartment on the fourth floor, with an old and worn couch that had a lot of emotional energies in it. For a while, the sad clown smiled.

Nereid moved to the top floor, to the same apartment that Josette resided in. The bathroom there had a large bathtub that once was rather luxurious, and was quickly filled with crystal-clear water that she could submerge herself in.

 **Finally done! This chapter was a long one, probably the longest I've written so far. I'm sorry that it has been quite some time since I updated this story, but as you can see, there is a lot of work in it, and 's not including character design and art (which will be up on my Diviantart page soon). Also, this is more of a side project, so I do not work on it as often as my other stories.**

 **Still, I hope you enjoyed it, and will keep checking back for more. See you next chapter. :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

 **Fright at the Museum**

Almost a week had passed since the team's encounter with the lone Ghostbreaker, and they were all grateful for the downtime they had been given, even though they were starting to get a little restless. After a few days however, they had found an old TV that still worked, and many had gotten caught up in a number of late-night soap operas. Josette wasn't sure what the allure was, but then again, the soaps reminded her about many political and family based intrigues from when she was still alive, some of which she had experienced first hand.

As she floated through the Ghoul Room, trying to decide which Haunters to spend the Gold Plasm on, she saw Nereid outside the building, looking up into the sky. Curious, Josette decided to join the mermaid.

"Mind if I join you, Nereid?" she asked.

"Oh, Josette, I did not hear you." the surprised spirit said. "If you want to, you may."

"How are you feeling?"

"Remarkably well, though to be honest, I never expected to stay in this city after I had been freed."

"You can return to the ocean at any time, there is nothing stopping you, I least of all."

"I know, and while I still yearn for the sea, I am still connected to it, thanks to you and your team. Those efforts have earned you my loyalty and I shall aid you to the best of my abilities. And should I miss my home too much, I can always look at the moon."

Following Nereid's gaze, Josette saw the moon in the sky.

"It is almost full." said Nereid. "Only a few more days, and it will shine in the sky like a giant pearl. The moon and the tides are linked, you know, that is why I like looking at the moon, it is connected to the sea, it is part of it."

"I used to look up at the moon when I was still alive, it always gave me peace. So I guess that we have that in common." Josette said with a smile.

"I guess we do." said Nereid, smiling back at Josette. For a short while, the two spirits just looked at each other, both enjoying the company of the other, until another spirit arrived.

"Excuse me, I'm not disturbing anything am I?" asked the Fire Elemental.

"Not at all, Firecracker. We were just enjoying the view." said Josette. "Is there something that I can help you with?"

"Not exactly, but a new building just popped up on the map. Seems like we got another mission." said the salamander happily.

"I see, thank you for telling me."

"No problem, chief. I'll get the gang together and meet you by the map." Firecracker said and quickly darted away.

"A new mission, does it usually take this long for you to get new missions?" Nereid asked.

"It can, depends on a lot of things, but I do agree that this has been a quite long wait. Let us see what they have in store for us."

* * *

With the team assembled, Josette took a closer look at the new building. It looked an awful lot like many of the larger mansions and palaces that she had visited back in 1700th century Europe, especially in France. Touching the small paper construct, Charles' briefing started.

"My apologies for taking such time, Ghost Master, but I had to make sure that the Ghostbreakers wasn't too active after your encounter with them. Luckily, they appear to be biding their time for now, so you have the chance to act.

This time you will be heading to the Sunny Halls Museum of History. While there are only a handful of night-guards there after closing, they are not of interest, in fact, it would be best if you didn't scare any of them away, as they will have to be a very limited source of Plasm for you and your team.

Your mission, much like your previous one, will be to recruit more ghosts for your team, and with so many objects from times past, you are sure to find some interesting ones. You may bring six Haunters with you, pick wisely."

"Hmm… this will require a very tactically chosen team, rather than one for scaring. I will have to think hard on this." said Josette.

After a few minutes, the Ghost Master came to a decision.

"I will need Bedrock, Jabu and Chuckles. And I think I will bring Soar, Clarence and… Firecracker as well. And before we leave, we have acquired a good amount of Gold Plasm, I say that we use some of it for new powers for a few of you."

* * *

Several hours later, a portal opened over the Museum and the ghosts emerged, ready for their mission. Spreading out to search for the trapped spirits, they couldn't help but examine everything in the museum, occasionally recognizing a few things, but what really caught Josette's attention were the dinosaur skeletons.

She had never seen such creatures before and was really awestruck with how large many of them were, and how terrifying some of them seemed to have been. Being a ghost, she could actually feel just how ancient the remains were, far beyond even the oldest spirits she had encountered. And there was also something almost… unsettling about the bones.

"Boss! We found one!" Firecracker called out as he entered the doorway to the exhibit, bringing the Ghost Master out of her thoughts. Josette hurried after the Elemental.

Arriving in a room with items from the two World Wars, she saw a spirit tethered to an old biplane wearing German markings from the first war. The ghost was that of a male pilot, still wearing an old aviator uniform consisting of a brown leather jacket, a pair of light brown trousers, high boots and a cap with goggles. The left sleeve was missing, as was most of the trousers' right leg, and the goggles were cracked, though the pilot himself didn't look much better, the left half of his face was missing and where his clothes were torn, only his bones were left. He was looking at the old plane with a sad face, or what was left of it.

"It is a pity, is it not, fräulein." he said with a clear German accent. "This beautiful flying machine once ruled the air. We were almost unbeatable, she and I, but then we were shot down over the channel. For decades, we lay at the bottom before being found and salvaged, and I thought that my Helga would finally fly again, but no such luck. Now she hangs here, pristine and all, but never shall she feel the strong winds under her wings again."

"Winds, huh?" Josette thought out aloud, a plan forming in her mind. "I think I know just who can help you. Just give us a little time, and we will be back."

Getting an affirmative nod from the pilot, Josette and Firecracker left to continue the scouting. Josette knew how to free the ghost, but at the moment the plasm level was too low, and with only a few night guards around, the team had to be very strategic.

As they continued, they ran into Clarence in a large room dedicated to the old wild west era, as well as the gold rush.

"Ah, there you are, Ghost Master. I was just about to contact you. There are two spirits in this room, I think you will find them… interesting to say the least."

"Thank you, Clarence."

Approaching the first of the two spirits, bound to either a boulder or the old pickaxe wedged in it. It was a ghost of an old gold digger, wearing old worn and patched clothes consisting of blue pants with a rope for a belt, a pair of leather boots, a red shirt and a big hat, he also carried a pickaxe, a big backpack and a corn-pipe. His eyes and skin were gold in colour, while his hair and long beard were silver.

"Well tarnation, a visitor! And I haven't had a bath since… ehm… 1799? I think. Doesn't really matter, but you see, I was so close to hit the mother lode, but then the entire mine decided to collapse on top of me. If only I could have cracked open that last boulder before I died, now me trusty old pickaxe is stuck in it."

Josette examined the nearby boulder with said pickaxe, it was large and the axe securely wedged in it. That was going to be a tough obstacle.

"My team and I will see what we can do. Have you seen another spirit trapped in this room?"

"You mean like the fellow over yonder?" the miner said and pointed to the far side of the room, an area dedicated to the time of the wild west. And there was the other spirit.

He was some form of cowboy, wearing the characteristic boots and hat of the time, both in brown leather, just like his vest, and he wore a revolver in his holster on his belt. He also had blue pants and shirt as well as a red bandanna or scarf covering the lower half of his face. His skin was sickly green and his eyes were completely white.

"Evening, ma'am." he said with a tip of the hat when Josette reached him, it seemed that he was bound to an old safe in the display. "Have you ever worked really hard to earn something, only for someone else to steal it all? I haven't, but I did steal what others had worked for. But now all I had is locked inside this here safe, and no one remembers the combination, except me. Problem is, I can't really do anything about it. Think you can bust it open for me?"

"I'll see what we can do." said Josette, but looking at the safe, she wasn't sure what to do, it looked very sturdy, even more so than the boulder. Overall, the problems seemed to simple in nature, but still required special thought as it didn't seem like the appropriate fetters were available where she needed them, also, the plasm supply was too low for the powers required. As she thought, the remainder of her team arrived, having found no other spirits, much to everyone's surprise.

"Jabu, Firecracker. Head to the guardroom, use your powers to generate some plasm for us, but only of your lower tiers. We do not want to scare the mortals away, at least not yet."

"Will do, boss mon."

"You can count on us."

As the two spirits headed off, Josette turned to the rest of her team, specifically the Earth Elemental.

"Bedrock, can your Tremor split that rock?"

"Yes, but I need to use it more than once. And it takes a while to recharge."

"I suppose that can not be helped. Bind yourself to the boulder and wait for my signal, then try and try again until it breaks."

The Elemental nodded and moved to the big boulder, awaiting orders. Meanwhile, the remaining ghosts left the room for the time being, as Josette wanted to investigate the fossilised dinosaurs again. There was something strange about them.

* * *

In the guardroom, things were quiet, just like most nights, but that soon changed. The lights flickered before going out, and it got strangely warm.

"What's going on? And why did it get so hot?" a guard in his late thirties asked.

"I don't know. It can't be the power, since the monitors are still working, but then what-"

Suddenly there was a loud moan, and the four guards nervously looked around.

"Okay, who was that? Because it's not funny."

"It's not one of us, chief."

"Someone must have sneaked in and is messing with us. Sweeping patrols, people, I don't take kindly to pranksters."

* * *

Back at the dinosaur exhibit, Josette had just received an update from Jabu and Firecracker, and she was a little annoyed that that mortals had left the room so quickly, but then again, they were guards, it was their job to investigate the area. Jabu was ordered to follow them and continue to work on them as best he could. At least they had managed to generate some plasm in that short while, and it was just enough for their first task.

"Bedrock, you should have enough plasm now, please begin." Josette said telepathically, and not long after, the entire building shook slightly from the Earth Elemental's power, but not enough to really cause any damage to anything else than the boulder. Aside from one other object, the skeleton of a so called Utahraptor, the largest of all raptors, collapsed from the quake.

Josette thought that it was a shame, but she wasn't prepared for what happened next. Her eyes widened when she saw the black mass of shadows pour out from the pile of bones, coalescing over them. Shortly after, the mass had taken the form of the now ruined skeleton, all bones being completely black and the eye-sockets filled filled with red light. Standing in front of the young Ghost Master was now a beyond ancient ghost, easily two feet taller than her and savage in nature.

Setting its eyes on Josette, its two giant claws on its hind legs twitching slightly, it let out a terrifying shriek of a roar and charged right towards Josette.

Terrified, she flew through the room and walls as fast as she could, but the skeletal spirit was hot on her trail. Josette wasn't sure if a ghost could kill another ghost, since they were already dead, but it was possible for a ghost to be destroyed, even if it was incredibly difficult, so she didn't want to find out.

As the chase continued, both spirits passed through the outer walls of the museum, the distance between them shrinking with each passing second, soon the chase would be over. But it would be sooner than expected, for as Josette neared the edge of the museum's courtyard, she hit something solid that prevented her from going any further. That's when she remembered, when a haunting is started, a Spectral Zone is created by the portal, it is that which allow them to truly draw upon the plasm generated by the mortals, but she and her team couldn't leave in any other way than either succeeding their mission and returning home, or failing it and be cast out. And that also meant that she couldn't flee any further.

With another shriek, the dinosaur ghost leaped through the air, and Josette prepared herself for the worst, but it never happened. Standing over Josette, the spirit started nuzzling her face rather eagerly with its snout while wagging its tail. It took a while before Josette had been able to process the sudden events, and then she got back up, the dinosaur ghost still behaving like a playful dog towards her.

"You gave me quite the scare." she said, cautiously petting the skeleton on its skull. "I do not think I have ever been that scared before, not even when I faced my father. But you do not seem like such a bad spirit, how would you like to come along with us?"

It gave an affirmative and happy, almost bark like sound, wagging its tail even more.

"Boss! You alright?" Jabu could be heard shouting as he and the rest of the Haunters, save for Bedrock, arrived, worried about their leader.

"I am fine, Jabu, if a little shaken. Our new team member here was very playful."

"What is he? I've never seen anything like him before." said Firecracker.

"He seems to be ghost of a dinosaur, a raptor to be more precise, but I didn't know that there even existed such spirits." said Clarence.

"I do not think anyone knows about his kind." said Josette. "Regardless, he needs a name."

"I say we call 'im… Skelesaurus!" said Jabu, feeling proud about the name, but the newly named spirit snapped its jaws at the Spook, causing him to hide behind Chuckles. "Oi! Ease up, mon!"

"Please hide behind someone else!" Chuckles complained.

"I think that he likes it, and the name does suit him." said Josette. She then looked back to the museum. "But now we should return to our mission, there are still three more spirits in need of help."

* * *

Returning to the room with the two spirits, they found Bedrock still fettered to the boulder, still waiting for his Tremor to recharge. And it didn't take more than a few moments for that to occur, and another powerful quake shook the room, widening the already enlarged crack on the boulder, but it was still not enough.

"One more should do it." Josette thought out aloud, then turned her attention to the cowboy's problem, but was interrupted when two of the night guards walked in, and that gave her an idea. She quickly searched the surroundings for an emotional fetter.

"Chuckles, use that bar counter over there, then try your new power on one of the guards."

Doing as told, the clown ghost bound himself to the old bar counter, then he targeted the closest of the guards and used Possess. With a twirl of his umbrella, Chuckles sent a powerful force against the guard and was forcefully pulled towards him, gaining almost complete control of the mortal while using him as a mobile fetter.

"Hey, you okay?" his colleague asked as he twitched from becoming a host for a ghost.

"Um… yeah, just had a shiver go down my spine, that's all."

Suddenly, there was a loud moan coming from the hallway that the mortals had just come through.

"You go and check that out, I'll search this room for this culprit." the possessed night guard said, and his colleague did as asked. As soon as the other guard had left the room, Chuckles moved the possessed mortal to the safe.

"Alright, partner, now turn that dial first right, then left, and keep doing that every number I tell you." the cowboy ghost instructed. "24, 35, 10, 19, 32, 54, 2 and 34."

With a click, the safe was unlocked and the door swung open, revealing the riches within, a lot of water and droves of moldy paper bills falling out on the floor.

"Well, at least the safe was waterproof from the inside and out, should have known better than to buy the cheapest stuff, like the food. Got no reason to stick around here then, got space on your team for this old Desperado?"

"Of course, you are most welcome with us." said Josette.

"Then let's ride, boss."

With the so called Desperado freed from his earthly prison, Josette thanked Jabu and Chuckles for their work in the matter, and the clown ghost released his host, claiming that he was a boring fellow. The mortal on the other hand was utterly confused on what had happened, having no recollection of the past few minutes. He was however awoken from his daze mere moments later when another tremor shook the room, knocking him on his backside.

And that was not all, the quake managed to finally split the boulder in half, freeing not only the pickaxe, but also the spirit it had belonged to.

"Yeehaw! That's the right stuff, wippersnapper! Just like I used to do back in my days! Shame that it was a dud, but you can't strike gold every time. Better move on to new veins, am I right?"

Giving his spectral pickaxe a spin, the ghost known as Gravedigger joined Josette's team, leaving only one ghost still trapped in the museum, Wolfgang, the fighter pilot. But before they could move on to that objective, a telepathic message from Charles alerted them to a new event.

'A trio of burglars have broken into the museum, aiming to steal what is not theirs, but belongs to those of times past. This is something that we do not take kindly to. Deal with them in whatever way you feel fitting.'

Moving through the museum, the team soon found the three interlopers, and after only a short moment of thinking, Josette grinned as she decided on a plan of action.

"Skelesaurus… sic'em!"

With a roar of joy, the ghostly fossil swooped down on the unsuspecting mortals, unleashing a power known as Terror Incarnate, making it appear in its full, spine-chilling visage, shrieking loudly as it did.

The three burglars almost literally jumped out of their skins as Skelesaururs appeared in front of them, and it didn't even take a second for them to start running for their lives, which the undead horror enjoyed to the fullest. Unfortunately for the mortals, almost the entire museum was a thoroughfare fetter, just the kind that Skelesaurus needed, so it could hunt the mortals to no end, making full use of not only Terror Incarnate, but also Chase and Deadly Pursuit.

Their screams of terror would without a doubt attract the attention of the night guards, and they would pin the blame for everything on the intruders, which suited Josette perfectly. And while Skelesaurus played with his new playmates, the rest of the team could focus on Wolfgang, and there was no shortage of plasm any longer.

* * *

Back in the World War room, Wolfgang gave the team an amused look as they arrived.

"I have been hearing quite some commotion lately, I'm guessing that that is your work." he said.

"That is correct, and now the time has come to set you free as well." Josette responded and began surveying the area more closely.

"Clarence, can you use the small mirror on this vehicle?" she asked, pointing at the rear-view mirror of an old military car, a Dodge WC-56 from 1944.

"I am not sure, it seems like a very tight spot, but I will try." the Fetch said. It took some effort, but he managed to squeeze into the tiny mirror. "Ugh, not the form of accommodation I am accustomed to, but I can work with it."

"Good, then use Ethereal Gift so Soar can use it as a fetter. Wolfgang, according to your page in my handbook, while most of your powers are unavailable at the moment, you still have the power of Gather Winds, that will strengthen all kinds of winds. Please use that, then Soar can use her new power, Tempest."

Wolfgang's power swirled throughout the room, making even the faintest of breezes stronger, and bound to Clarence' Ethereal Gift, Soar could use her new Tempest power, creating very strong winds in the area, which was further strengthened by the already present power. Smaller objects were hurled aside from the winds, every flag and banderol whipping in the wind and not a grain of dust was left untouched.

Feeling the strong winds against his face again, and seeing the frame of his old plane vibrate in it, reminded Wolfgang of how it felt when he flew for the army, but he also knew in his heart that his beloved biplane would never fly again. He stood in attention and saluted it, not even noticing that his chain vanished.

"It has been an honour, my dear Helga." he then turned to Josette and her team. "Fräulein, you have done me a great service, and it would be my honour to aid you in your campaign."

"The honour is mine. I guess that we are done here then, the portal back home should open any minute now."

"Shouldn't we retrieve our new pet first?" Chuckles said, referring to Skelesaurus.

And after persuading the dinosaur spirit to leave his new toys behind, the group left through the portal as it opened above the museum.

* * *

Back at the Ghoul Room, the new recruits were welcomed by the rest of the team, and all found a place to call their own for the campaign. Gravedigger settled in a corner of the basement, where a couple of bags of potting soil had been left by one of the previous inhabitants. He said it felt a bit like an old mine.

Desperado headed to the old office of the café, where there was a pair of moose horns mounted on the wall. It also put him close to the old safe, and while it was empty, it still reminded him of his old work days.

Going to the roof of the building, Wolfgang found the air intake, that and the view from high above was about as close as he could get to what he used to have as a pilot.

Skelesaurus claimed the front yard, guarding the entrance like guard dog, and any mortal foolish enough to get too close, would get the scare of their life.

 **Phew, if you only knew the amount of work that went into this chapter. I was halfway to having to learn German for Wolfgang's sake, but I gave up on that.**

 **But regardless, I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, and more are coming, just give me some more time.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 **The Scare Witch Project**

The next night, Charles stepped through the portal, arriving in Josette's Ghoul Room, more specifically, the map room. Shortly after he arrived, he was met by the Fire Elemental, Firecracker.

"Hey, Charles. Need something?" the salamander asked.

"Hello, Firecracker. Yes, I'm looking for miss Josette."

"Figured as much. She's in the old café, on the ground floor."

"Thank you."

A short while later, Charles reached the café, where Josette was playing a card game together with Desperado, Gravedigger and Jabu, though she wasn't having the best of luck.

"Miss Josette? I hope that I am not intruding?" Charles said, announcing his presence.

"Not at all, Charles. I believe that my luck for this game has run dry at the moment." Josette said, looking up from her cards, and excused herself from the game. "Thank you for this time, but it seems that work calls."

"Sure thing, boss." Desperado said with a quick tip of his hat.

Moving outside, Josette and Charles walked through the dark, rainy night, finding Skelesaurus patrolling its territory of the yard.

"So, this is the newly discovered spirit." Charles said, studying the ancient spirit from a decently safe distance.

"Yes, we accidentally ruined an old skeleton, and Skelesaurus rose from the remains."

"Fascinating. You should know that the very existence of your new recruit has caused an uproar with the Haunter Committee, overthrowing literal ages of research about spectral history. I have never seen so many members of the Committee so upset and confused. That Caius Talius would react that way was not a surprise, but when even Aqupam gets upset, you know that it is something significant."

"And what does that mean for us?"

"No need for worry, miss Josette. Skelesaurus will remain on your team, but once your campaign is over, I would not be surprised if scholars would like to examine it. However, now that my curiosity has been sated, I have a mission for you."

* * *

With the team gathered in the map room, Charles began his briefing.

"Tonight, your target is this building, a dormitory, a home for students." he started, and a small building unfolded itself from the map. "Since your forces have grown strong enough, we have deemed you ready for a larger challenge. You see, this dormitory is home to a pair of sisters, who practice what mortals refer to as witchcraft, they are your targets. Scare them away, and the mission will be complete. But be careful, even though they may be somewhat inexperienced with dealing with ghosts, they are still a threat. Other than that, you are free to terrorize the rest of the inhabitants of the dormitory. Your squad may consist of six members this time."

"Six haunters you say. Well that should be more than enough. I pick Jack, Swarm, Voltic, Clarence, Gravedigger and… Nereid."

"Me?" the Mermaid asked confused. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, I would like you on this mission. But, if you do not want to, I understand, and can pick someone else instead."

"If you think that I can be helpful, then I will do my best."

"Then it seems that you are all ready." said Charles as he opened the portal to the dormitory. "Good luck, and have fun."

* * *

Emerging from the portal above the dormitory, the seven spirits gazed upon their field of haunting for the night. The dormitory was a squarish house with three floors, a basement and a sun-deck on the rooftop, a rather sizeable building, for a living area. Josette's handbook spoke of no less than thirteen mortals being present in the dormitory, including the two young witches, Blair and Scarlet Belisle.

Other than the two sisters, there were seven young women living in the dormitory, with four young men visiting. Apparently, the mortals were having some form of festivity, and the males were socializing and flirting with the females, though it was ignored for the most part.

As Josette moved through the building, looking for both her targets and any restless spirits, she felt an odd sensation, like she was being watched. She was currently in one of the bedrooms, and it wasn't as big of a mess as the others she had been through, it was actually rather neat aside from a doll that was tossed aside in a corner. And it was from that doll that Josette got the strange feeling.

Examining it closer, she saw that it was of a young woman, about a foot tall with a pretty, blue dress with pink lace and a blue hat with a yellow flower and blond shoulder-long hair that curled upward at the end. It also wore a bow in the same colour as the lace, as well as a pair of blue shoes of clothe. The eyes were big and purple. The lips red and the skin pale, all in all, not to unalike to the porcelain dolls that Josette's father used to give her.

Then a voice spoke from the doll, the voice of a little girl, but with the authority of an adult, and the doll shimmered in a ghostly pale green light.

"Once loved, then abandoned, forgotten and left behind for days beyond counting. Then found again, but not loved, put on shelf like some trophy. Next, tossed aside like garbage by grown-up boy with no hair. Enough. No more. He must pay. Make him feel true horror."

With her handbook barely having stopped vibrating, Josette quickly checked to see what kind of entity she was dealing with, for there were some that were best to avoid. According to the information, the entity referred to itself as Bonnie, and was a poltergeist, a rather uncommon but respectably powerful spirit that usually uses mortal children as fetters, though this one also used Emotional fetters, and most often possesses telekinetic abilities.

She would without a doubt be a good addition to the team, and if they had to scare away this mortal to free Bonnie, then that wouldn't be too difficult, since they needed to get the plasm flowing either way. Checking the pages on the mortals, Josette quickly found the only bald male among them, one Brad Durrly.

'He must have made fun of the doll at an earlier point this night. Well, he will learn soon enough that that was a mistake.'

"Boss, you might wanna come outside, we've found someone in the backyard you'll wanna meet." Jack said through a telepathic message, and he sounded quite exited.

"I am on my way, Jack, thank you."

Moving through the house, Josette passed through the kitchen on the bottom floor, and there were the two witches. Blair had short brown hair and Scarlet had long black that reached almost to her waist, both wore dark, Goth-like clothes with Blair having a skirt while Scarlet had pants. They also had various small talismans around their necks and sewn into their clothes. And as Josette passed them, both of them stopped what they were doing and looked around for a short moment before focusing their eyes on Josette, as if they could see her, before the Ghost Master phased through the wall.

"You felt that too, Blair?"

"That I did, sister. It seems we have a visitor from the other side tonight."

"It better not try anything, or I will show no mercy."

"My thoughts exactly. We'd better be ready."

* * *

Outside, Josette saw who Jack spoke of, and she liked what she saw. The ghost of a snake, easily three meters long and seven inches thick, it had green scales with thick black stripes and a sand coloured underside, and the eyes were jet-black. It flicked its forked tongue in the air, looking at Josette.

"I am Sssnakepit, and I have been bound here by the two witchesss, but not by maliciousss or ssselfish intent. During their casssting of a protective ssspell, I wasss trapped here, and only by breaking the ssspell, will I be free. The charm mussst be dessstroyed."

"I will see what I can do, I promise."

Taking her team to a point high above the dormitory, they began to plan for the night.

"Am I the only one that finds it strange that them lasses haven't found that Snakepit fella?" Gravedigger asked.

"I agree, it does seem strange." said Nereid.

"They do seem to have the ability to sense us, or at least sense me." said Josette.

"Well, you **are** the boss." said Jack, and Swarm took the shape of a skull to nod in agreement. "And by being that, you're our nexus on these missions. The witches and mortals of faith that I've run into over the centuries haven't noticed me unless I start using my powers."

"So if they can detect that, then we will have to employ a hit and run tactic." said Josette. "Tap into the plasm when you need it, use the power you wanted, and retreat. Also, keep moving from fetter to fetter if possible."

"You can count on us." said Clarence, as he and the other spirits spread out across the dormitory.

* * *

In the main living room, five of the mortals were talking over a movie, when suddenly the TV died and crackled as it began giving of sparks.

"What the hell?! What's up with the TV?!" a man with short blond hair exclaimed.

But before anyone got to answer, a huge swarm of bees filled to room, causing a panic among the mortals. And as suddenly as it all started, everything stopped after a few moments. Shortly after, the witch Blair came into the room, having felt the disturbance, but now it was gone, or at least for the time being.

Voltic, still fettered to the TV, saw the witch and smirked. After the assault from him and Swarm, the plasm level was already high enough for him to use his Surge power, which would strike all five of his original targets and the witch as well. Powering up, he unleashed a destructive electric wave through the room, shocking all mortals.

Except for Blair.

As soon as the Surge went off, a barrier appeared around Blair, leaving the witch completely unaffected by the ghostly power, not even feeling the slightest amount of fear of it. And while the five other mortals collapsed on the floor, Blair set her eyes on the TV, glaring hard straight at Voltic as if she could see him, and the eel Gremlin felt that it was high time to withdraw.

"Run if you want, spirit, for you can't harm me or my sister." Blair said under her breath as she felt how the presence quickly faded.

* * *

Voltic reported his discovery to Josette, and the news were both interesting and discouraging. As it seemed, their powers wouldn't affect the two witches as long as they had the barriers, but from Voltic's report everything pointed to the protection coming from another source rather than the witches themselves, at least indirectly.

"Must be the charm that Snakepit spoke of, which we must destroy either way. Everyone must search for it, but keep hitting the mortals with your powers when you get the chance, and stay clear of the witches for the time being."

And the ghosts did just that.

* * *

Jack had a blast lighting a female on fire right as she and a male was about to kiss, scaring the living daylight out of them. And as they both screamed, Jack laughed so hard that he wasn't sure which way was up once he stopped spinning.

* * *

Another of the young women had gone outdoors for a quick smoke, but she soon found that Gravedigger lived up to his name, when the ground underneath her opened up and swallowed her up to her chest. Suffice to say that she would never smoke again after that.

* * *

In one of the two bathrooms, Clarence had occupied the mirror and waited for his prey to come to him. With being limited to only using mirrors as fetters, there was little else he could do, but luckily, he didn't have to wait very long. One of the young women entered and walked over to the mirror to freshen up.

"Snotty cows…" she muttered as she cleaned her glasses. "Just because I want to spend the evening studying for the exams, they throw a party and ridicule me for complaining."

Wiping her glasses clean, she put them back on and looked at her reflection, not seeing that Clarence merged with it in the mirror, using his Thing In The Mirror power to take over its place. It twitched and was twisted into a monstrous version of the woman, and its clawed hands reached out from the mirror towards her.

The woman fell to the floor, unmoving and unresponsive, the shock having been too much for her to bare.

"Maybe I overdid it a bit." Clarence said as he left the premise.

* * *

The two sisters had a hard time tracking down the ghostly invaders, but they had confirmed that there were far more than just one spirit, and while most of the people in the building had started to get very scared, the witches were not worried, not as long as their protective charm was working.

Josette also knew this, and while her team kept the witches searching, she herself also searched, for the charm in question, a difficult task but she had a hunch of where to look. Moving to the room that belonged to the witches, she carefully looked around, wary about any potential wards or protective spells that they might have prepared.

Luckily, it didn't take long for Josette to locate the charm that granted the witches' barriers. It was a small clay figurine, looking like a small troll or goblin, with many symbols painted onto it. It didn't look too sturdy and would probably break easily. The only question was how, none of her team had the powers needed to do that task.

After checking her handbook for a while, she found the solution, namely Bonnie, she possessed a telekinetic power called TK Storm, and that would be more than enough to break the charm. But that required that they freed Bonnie, something that Josette still had planned to do, but now it was more of a priority.

"Listen up, team." she said through the telepathic link. "Be on the look out for a bald male by the name of Brad Durrly, we need to scare him away from here."

* * *

Standing on the sun-deck, was Brad, trying to woo one of the young women. But his attempts were interrupted when Swarm found them, and surrounded them, after that, it didn't take long until the two mortals ran back indoors, little did they know that they wouldn't be any safer there.

Using the earth in big flowerpot as a fetter, Gravedigger used his Swallow power on the woman, and the floor underneath her turned into dirt and swallowed her up to her chest. Terrified, Brad ran like a coward, leaving his friend screaming in fear. Locking himself inside one of the bathrooms, he tried to catch his breath, unaware that Jack, Nereid and Voltic were waiting for him there.

A Shattered Nerves from Jack made Brad even more nervous and more susceptible to the coming attack from the remaining two spirits. Voltic opened with his power of Leak, causing numerous leaks of water to appear all over the room, even where there were no water. As the water poured out of the walls, Nereid finished the combo with Gore, a power that made blood ooze from every crack and corner of the room, and turned all water into blood as well. In no time at all, the room became drenched in blood.

Brad couldn't unlock the door fast enough, and once it was open, he wasted no time running for his life, basically jumping down each stairway and shoving aside anyone in the way. His fear-filled screams could be heard for a long time even as he had disappeared into the night.

A message reached Josette telepathically, originating from the doll that held the essence of Bonnie.

"An eye for an eye, now he know terror. But I am not content, more grown-ups need to know the same horror, to pay for all they do."

Shortly after, a spectral mass was released from the doll and moved to where Josette were at the time. Once there, it coalesced into a ghostly copy of the doll.

"I will follow you, to where you may go. More will pay for their errors."

Josette felt a bit uncomfortable, but she welcomed the addition all the same, especially since she now had what she needed to start the next phase, she just hoped that Bonnie wouldn't have something against destroying the charm, with it vaguely resembling a doll-like object.

* * *

With the rest of the team keeping the witches occupied, Josette and Bonnie made their way to the protective charm.

"There it is. Bonnie, if you would be so kind."

There were a lot of Emotional fetters in the room, so Bonnie had no problem finding one to use. For a short time, the rest of the team gave up all the plasm that they had occupied, TK Storm was a rather expensive power, but mostly they wanted to be clear in case of some form of feedback.

With the entire reservoir of plasm at her disposal, Bonnie let loose her telekinetic force and everything smaller than a chair in the room were thrown into the air and hurled around. But this one activity didn't go unnoticed by the two sisters, as all other activity had seized, and they hurried to their room.

As soon as they opened the door, they were met by the sight of their protective charm being tossed against the floor, shattering upon impact, and the spell bound to it dissipated. They could feel how the ghostly presences quickly vanished from the room before the witches could do anything, but the damage was already done.

The sisters looked at each other in worry, their best defence was gone, and they didn't have the time to create a new one, especially not with all the hostile spirits around. But they were still far from defenceless, and any spirit engaging them was still at risk.

But breaking the clay charm did more than just strip the witches of their barriers, one particular ghost was also freed from the spell.

The serpentine spirit Snakepit, slithered through the air to Josette.

"My shacklesss have been broken, thanksss to you. If you don't mind, I would like to accompany you on your quessst, ssstarting with the witchesss."

"Your help is appreciated, Snakepit. And we will make the process short with the two witches."

* * *

Blair and Scarlet moved through the dormitory carefully and vary of any fluctuations from the spirits. Over half of the inhabitants had already fled the field, and the rest were unsure of where it was safe from the ghosts.

Both witches were on their way to investigate the kitchen, and Scarlet was the first one to enter it. Waiting bound to the oven, Jack saw an opportunity to dish out some terror and immediately struck Scarlet with his Human Torch. She cried out in shock as she burst into flames, and instantly dropped to the floor and began rolling around to put out the flames.

But as Jack laughed heartily over his work, he failed to notice that Blair had been right behind her sister. Having detected the Wisp, she quickly unleashed her arcane powers at him, white light blasting out from her hands and enveloping Jack, revealing him to the sisters.

"Hey! Quit it!" he objected as he felt a painful tingling through out his ectoplasmic body. He tried to use his powers, but nothing happened, nor could he move. "Boss! Help me!"

"There is no escape for you, spirit. Begone!" Blair said with a strong voice, and with a cry of pain, Jack faded away, right in front of Josette as she came to his aid, but too late.

"Jack! No!"

Blair quickly turned around and looked at Josette, feeling her presence. The Ghost Master had no other choice but to retreat. With the presence out of reach, Blair tended to her sister instead.

* * *

Hovering above the dormitory, Josette was shaken to the core, her moral was dropping and she didn't know what to do. Then suddenly, she felt a familiar presence nearby. Looking around, she saw how Jack reformed, looking just as shocked as her.

"Whoa! What just happened!?" he exclaimed confused.

"Jack?! I thought you were gone!"

"Well, I'm still here it seems, and I think I'm fine. But now this is personal! I'll give them a scare they won't forget!"

"Wait!"

Not even listening to her, Jack sped down towards the dormitory, but came to an abrupt stop when a huge barrier blocked him.

"Hey! What gives!?"

"One of your Haunters have been banished from the haunting." they heard Charles' voice say. "He will not be able to aid you any more in this mission. Should too many of your Haunters be banished, the mission must be aborted."

"That is not good, but it is not as bad as I thought it was."

"Guess you'll have to do this without me, boss. Sorry."

"It was not your fault, and we will avenge you. I promise. You just sit back and enjoy the show."

* * *

It was now clear for the ghosts that they couldn't underestimate the witches again, and as long as the two kept together, engaging them would be tricky. So Josette decided to take a page from their book, and make sure that no-one of her team engaged them alone.

Nereid moved outdoors, using the water in a birdbath as her fetter, then she began singing a most alluring song without words. Her Siren Song reached the ears of three of the mortals, and the became enchanted by it, feeling drawn to it.

The trio walked closer to the birdbath, not knowing why, or what awaited them. Stopping her song, Nereid allowed their newest member to show what he could do, and no-one was more pleased than Snakepit.

Using his power of Scattered Swarm, the giant snake became visible to the mortals for a short moment as he spewed out dozens of smaller snakes, all of which quickly slithered all over the ground. The already scared mortals didn't last long against that show, and jumped over the fence to get away as quickly as possible.

The tactic was a success, even if they weren't able to draw in any of the witches. But now, it was time to swarm them with all they had.

With the witches entering the common-room, most of the ghosts had fetters to use and the plasm supply was more than high enough.

A huge swarm of stinging insects materialized out of thin air, and the two sisters instinctively tried to avoid the swarm by ducking, only to fall to the floor when a powerful Quake shook the entire house, knocking down a plethora of things all over.

Swarm and Gravedigger quickly withdrew after their offensive, letting more of the team have some fun.

* * *

"Are you two alright?" the woman that Clarence had scared in the bathroom asked as she found the two sisters shortly after the quake.

"I believe so." said Scarlet, getting back on her feet together with her sister.

"That's good to hear. I've actually got a little gift for you." she said, and a gift-box with a ribbon appeared in her hands. Then she grinned as her form changed into that of Clarence before disappearing, leaving the gift-box behind. He had used his Clone power to take the form of the young woman and walk around freely.

Before the witches could do anything, Nereid used the Ethereal Gift as a fetter and used Haunted Hail, causing hundreds of live fish to fall from above their heads. And while they covered themselves from the falling fish, Voltic attacked from the still intact TV, unleashing his Surge again, and this time there was no barrier to block it.

Blair, who had been the more strong-willed couldn't take any more, and as soon as she had recovered enough from the shock, she lead her sister out into the garden, only to be caught in a Twister by Bonnie. But her momentum caused her to be thrown out through the door as she was flipped upside down. Trying to help her sister, Scarlet was unaware that Snakepit awaited them there. The witches path was blocked as Snakepit's Creepers power caused numerous claw-like vines to rise from the grass. Then, both Snakepit and Swarm struck again, using Brief Scare and Spooky Surprise respectively, and appearing in front of the two sisters.

On the edge of terror, the sisters couldn't think clearly, they were completely at the ghosts' mercy, or lack thereof. And Josette decided it was time to end it, appearing in front of the terrified mortals, and through her, the rest of the spirits as well, aside from Jack, who watched from afar.

"Perhaps now you will know not to meddle with powers you do not understand." Josette said with a dark voice. "Leave, while you still can."

Blair and Scarlet didn't need any more convincing, they were beaten and they knew it. They ran as quick as their feet could carry them, never to return to the dormitory.

With the witches on the run, the mission objective had been completed, and the portal back to the Ghoul Room opened above the dormitory. But as the ghosts returned with their new recruits, one thing passed them by. The mortal whose guise Clarence had used, still lay on the floor in the bathroom, still unmoving.

* * *

After a short introduction to the rest of the team, Snakepit and Bonnie both looked for a place that they could call their own.

At a corner of the outside of the building, Snakepit settled down, feeling at ease where he could survey the backyard.

Bonnie found what had once been a child's room, and it still had an aura of children about it, if weak, but it made the Poltergeist feel a lot more calm.

It had been a hectic night, but they had managed to come out on top. And Josette was very relieved to know that Jack was unharmed and would be able to go on missions without any problems. But that would have to wait, for they had earned not only the Gold Plasm, but also their rest.

 **That was some mission, and they nearly had a loss among the team. But the ghosts didn't let up and succeeded in their mission thanks to it.**

 **Okay, I know it has been almost six months since I updated this story, but they do take a long time to plan and work out, not to mention that I work on other projects as well. Hoping that it won't be as long until the next chapter.**

 **Also, special thanks to fellow fanfic writer and dear friend Bloodrayne666, who gave me the idea for Snakepit way back. Thanks for that! :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

 **The Haunted Mansion**

The next night in the Ghoul Room, Josette was going over the information on her Haunters in her handbook, seeing what new powers she could teach them for all the Gold Plasm they had earned so far. She also thought back on the encounter with the two witches during their last mission, and how afraid she had been that they had lost Jack. Luckily, he turned out to be fine afterwards, he just couldn't help them any more on that particular mission. Regardless, Josette had still been terrified, and with all right.

But unknown to her, she was about to receive another scare.

As she joined her team in the down in the café, a portal to from the Spirit Realm opened, and a ghost of a medieval executioner stepped through, his sharp axe in his hands and a black hood covering his face.

"Ghost Master Josette." he said with a dark voice.

"Yes?" Josette answered, only to the axe nearly shoved up in her face.

"You are relived of your duty. For ending the existence of a mortal, you will face the Haunters Committee and receive your punishment." he said, grabbing her by the arm with an iron grip.

"What?! No, let her go!" Nereid protested.

"Unhand our boss, partner!" Desperado said, pulling his revolver. And the rest of the Haunters formed up around the intruder, all ready to defend their Ghost Master.

"Stop! That is enough!" Josette yelled. "Fighting the Committee will not help anyone. I will go and meet with them, see what this is all about, and I do not want any of you to do anything stupid on account of me."

Her team looked at each other and Josette with a hint of sadness and confusion, and reluctantly stood down. The executioner gave the spirits a final glance to make sure that they were sincere, and once he was certain, he turned back to the portal with Josette. But she wouldn't let him handle her like a common criminal, and pulled herself free from his grip as they both entered the portal back to the Spirit Realm.

* * *

Josette stood in front of the Haunters Committee, their faces serious and their eyes locked on her, while the executioner stood right behind her.

"Ghost Master Josette." the Spectral Dragon, Aqupam, began. "It has come to our attention that the actions of you and your team have cost a mortal her life. This is something that is extremely serious and can not be taken lightly."

"I told you she wasn't experienced enough!" Caius Talius snapped, only to be silenced by the Primadonna.

"Oh, be quiet, you, and let the girl speak." she said, nodding to Aqupam to continue.

"The mortal woman by the name of Wendy Weaver, was one of your victims of your mission last night, and earlier this day, she left her mortal existence as a result of you and your team. What have you to say on the matter?"

"It was never our intentions to claim the life of any mortal. I know fully well how we must avoid such things, as it could spark a war with the mortal realm."

"But it has been done, regardless of your intentions." said Saren. "A pity, considering your success so far."

"As much as it pains us, we must punish you for this." said North Wind. But before anyone was able to say anything else, Charles came busting in through the doors.

"Objection!" he shouted, pointing at the Committee. "You cannot punish miss Josette!"

"What is the meaning of this intrusion, Charles?" Aqupam asked, giving Charles a stern look. "Explain yourself."

"Gladly. Miss Josette, and her team of Haunters, are not guilty of this accident. I come straight from the Temporal Agency, having asked them to send me back to this moment after acquiring this information from the Central Mortal Information Bureau." he said, opening his briefcase and presenting documents to the Committee.

"As you all can see, this Wendy Weaver had a fatal heart condition, unknown to the mortals. And she would have perished within a week of said condition, so this outcome is really not much different than what would have happened, aside from the ill timing of the mission, of which everyone in the Committee is then just as responsible."

Aqupam and the others read the documents, and Charles' claims were indeed true, the mortal would have perished shortly regardless.

"So it would seem." the Spectral Dragon said. "However, this is still a serious event, and actions must be taken. We will discuss this, and once we have come to a decision, we will let you know."

"Until then," Nightmare the Sandman cut in. "I say that we let Ghost Master Josette be allowed to continue her campaign in Sunshine Valley. Anyone else agree?"

The other members of the Committee looked at each other, and after a short while, all of them gave their approval, though some were reluctant to do so.

"Then so shall it be." Aqupam said. "Return to your duties, young Ghost Master. We will speak again."

* * *

"Thank you, Charles." Josette said as they walked back from the meeting.

"Speak nothing of it, miss Josette. It is my job to assist you, and I promised headmaster Archion that I would keep an eye on you. Plus, it felt good to act as a lawyer again, been a long time since I done that."

"But it can not have been easy to do this. Having the Temporal Agency send you back in time like that. I thought that was only reserved for Ghost Masters if they failed a mission or similar. Speaking of which, why could I not just go back and redo everything?"

"I did have to call in an awful lot of favours for it, but it was worth it. As for your question; it would have been simple to do that, yes, but the mortal would have perished shortly either way, and I'm willing to bet that Caius would have used that against you like now, wanting to rather have you punished instead."

"What does he have against me?"

"From what I have gathered, he has always been like that, being an ancient Roman senator, and just between us, I do not think that he can stand that a Ghost Master so young as you are doing so well. Hopefully the rest of the Committee will see that you were not at fault, and he will have to accept that. But enough about that for now, it is high time for you to get back to work, and I think you will like this mission."

* * *

Back in the map room of the Ghoul Room, after having explained the circumstances, Charles began his briefing, the map showing a large mansion of some sort on the edge of the city, overlooking a forest to the far north-west.

"This should be fun and mostly simple. You see, this mansion is one of the oldest still standing buildings in the area, dating back to the mid 1800s, and in that time, it have had a lot of dark events taking place there, one in particular that included the last member of the family that built the house being murdered by his own staff. Feel free to explore this old mansion as you wish, and see what you might uncover, just make sure to drive everyone away in terror before the night is done. Like the last mission, six Haunters should suffice."

After some thought, Josette knew which spirits she wanted to bring with her. Desperado, Skelesaurus, Bobby, Flow, Twitch and Wolfgang. All ready and itching to get to work. But first, they needed to scout the premise, see what they had to work with, and what spirits, if any, that needed help.

And it didn't take long for them to locate their first spirit in need, as it was clearly visible from the air, standing in the backyard, his chain binding him to the earth.

Standing tall was the spirit of a humanoid wolf, his fur black as the darkest night and yellow, glowing eyes. The fur on his chest and around his neck was longer and thicker like a mane, coloured like silver.

"Ah, a Ghost Master. Been a while since I last seen one." the wolf said in a growing male voice. "Care to give a fellow spirit a helping hand? I followed the howling winds of a storm here, like I've always done. But the weather has been so calm here for years, and I long to run with the winds again, to howl in the storm."

"That does not sound too difficult." said Josette, mentally going over the powers of her team. "You will have your storm, but first I will have to search the rest of the area for other spirits that may need help."

"Very noble of you. I will await your return."

"Fräulein, I have located a spirit." said a telepathic message from Wolfgang. "I am in the master bedroom, on the top floor."

"Thank you, Wolfgang. I will be there in just a moment."

Reaching the master bedroom, Josette met up with Wolfgang, and saw the spirit he had uncovered, chained to the room.

He looked almost like a vampire from some of the more modern stories, having pale, white skin, yellow eyes, pointy ears, fangs and slick, black hair that covered his left eye. He wore a black coat with red collar and cuffs, a black cape with red inside, a white, fluffy scarf, grey pants and black boots, a style that would fit people of the nobility from a few centuries ago.

"Welcome to my humble home, or so I would like to say, but it is not exactly mine any longer. You may call me the Count, as my name sadly eludes me. I was the last member of the family that had this glorious mansion constructed, until my untimely demise. Could I ask for your aid? You understand, this used to be my bedroom, but it has since been inhabited by several others, and now it is occupied by a priest of all people. A priest! The gall! I urge you to drive him away, do this, and I will join your cause."

The task presented by the spectre was an easy one, and one that would be fulfilled either way, since the mission was to scare away everyone. But the fact that it was a priest was concerning, as they had the power to banish ghosts, just like the two witch sisters from earlier. Still, he was only one priest, and now the ghosts knew about him.

Promising that he would be free before the night was over, Josette continued her survey of the mansion. As she moved through all the rooms, she noticed some very faint presences in some of the rooms, but no matter how hard she looked, she just couldn't find the origin of them. But she did find another spirit in need of aid.

Bound to a couch in the main livingroom, was the spirit of an old woman, her grey hair reached past her shoulders and her skin was dark purple. She wore glasses with very thick lenses, a long dark green skirt and a knitted, pink sweater, with sleeves so long that they covered her hands.

"Oh, hello, deary. Come to see old nana Netty, have you? How kind of you. I wish I had a cookie for you." the lady said, pinching Josette's cheek, which took the Ghost Master by surprise.

"Could I ask for your help, sweetie? Most of my little kitties have gone and hid somewhere in this house, and I'm so worried about them. Right now, I only have three here with me, Jasper, Frank and Rick, but there are still six little kitties missing. You may have to scare them a little, but then they will run straight home to their nana."

Three small, barely visible orbs came up to Netty, and faint mews could be heard from them.

'This is certainly not what I expected, but it might explain the strange presences I felt earlier.' Josette thought to herself, and started to think on how to scare back the minor cat spirits.

Going over the mansion again, she did manage to isolate the areas with the presences in. The kitchen, one of the bathrooms, two of the bedrooms, the cellar and even the backyard.

With that done, she referred to her handbook, double-checking the mortals to make sure that she didn't make the same mistake as before. Once she had finished that, it was time to get to work, and her team spread out to start working their terrifying magic.

* * *

The first thing on Josette's agenda, was to conjure up a mighty storm. Not only would it free the wolf spirit, but a good storm always put mortals on edge, setting the mood for the haunting, and once it has grown to a certain strength, it would continue on its own.

So, taking Wolfgang and Flow with her to the backyard, the Ghost Master began the preparations. An old scythe hanging on the side of the tool-shed had at some point seen a lot of violence, which allowed Wolfgang to use it as his fetter, while Flow used the water in a birdbath. While the Spectre used his Gather Winds, the Water Elemental used Rain and Distant Thunder, and only a few minutes later, a proper storm was brewing, though it would still take a while before it was really strong.

But the rain still had an effect on the team's progress, for as soon as it started, a shrill mew was heard, and a small orb, just like the ones with Netty, darted across the grass and into the mansion. Shortly afterwards, Josette heard Netty's voice.

"Thank you for finding Norman for me! He always was a rebel, going outside despite not being allowed."

Josette could only raise an eyebrow at the event, but at least she knew what to do when next she found one of the remaining 'cat-orbs'. In the meantime, she directed the rest of her team to start working on the mortals, while staying clear of the priest for the time being.

The large amounts of stuffed animals and hunting trophies gave both Bobby and Desperado ample of fetters to choose from, while Twitch had a lot of electronic devices to choose from as well. And Skelesaurus absolutely relished in the many hallways, all of which where Thoroughfare fetters, giving it plenty of places to hunt. They all started rather tame, but quickly worked their way up the tiers of their powers.

As soon as the Plasm had reached a high enough level, Wolfgang unleashed his Typhoon power, and the air was filled with powerful winds, strong enough for the surrounding trees to swing back and forth, while rain and thunder came down en mass.

With the winds howling, the wolf spirit chimed in and unleashed his own howl, sending chills down the spines of all mortal who heard it. And with the storm now raging, his chain withered away.

"Now this, this is a real storm. You are an artist, and now, I, Lonewolf, will aid you."

With the added power of the Wendigo, Lonewolf, no mortals would be able to escape the haunting by leaving the mansion, as the spirits would control the outside as well. Leaving Flow and Wolfgang to continue the storm a while longer, Josette set out to find the remaining 'cat-orbs'.

* * *

As Twitch followed a woman into the kitchen, he picked one of the many appliances as a fetter, and unleashed his Wild and Crazy, causing all machines to go nuts, scaring the woman something fierce. And the commotion also caused another orb to mew and dart through the building back to Netty.

"Eugene! I have told you, no snacking between meals. Bad kitty!" Netty said as the orb joined the others. Only four left.

* * *

A pair of teenagers left the house after things had started to get too strange, braving the storm to avoid whatever it was that haunted the mansion. Yet, they didn't count on Lonewolf residing in the garden, or on Skelesaurus following them outside, and the two hunters made very short work of the teens, sending them screaming into the night.

"How I have missed the hunt. And there are still more left. This will be a night to remember." Lonewolf said to Skelesaurus, who nodded in agreement.

'Lonewolf, I require your aid.' Josette said through the telepathic link, which startled the Wendigo at first. 'Please come to the west side of the mansion.'

Once he arrived, Josette explained what she needed him to do. On the other side of the wall, one floor up, were two bedrooms, and in those bedrooms were two of the cats that Netty wanted them to find. Being so close to the wall, Lonewolf's howl could easily be heard inside, and two orbs flew out from their hiding places, one from under a bed and the other from a set of drawers, mewing loudly as they did. Shortly after, they were back with Netty.

"Taking a catnap again, Seth? You are such a sleepyhead. And Eric. Still pilfering socks I see."

* * *

Down in the cellar, the priest was investigating a presence he had felt, believing it to be connected to the recent events that had already scared away several of his friends. Little did he know that he was walking into a trap, for Desperado was bound to a dead rat in a rattrap, waiting for the old man to come close enough.

"Reach for the sky, partner!" the Mane shouted as he made himself visible, throwing himself at the priest.

The priest barely had time to react, much less defend himself, when Desperado used his Possession on him, taking over his body.

"There we go. Now to find that cat."

Walking into another room in the cellar, Desperado looked for any sign of a cat spirit, and while he didn't see anything, he did hear a few faint mews. Though, he wasn't alone, for two other mortals arrived, seeking shelter.

'Sorry about this, pussycat, but I have to get you back.' he said mentally, his hand reaching out from the mortal body, holding his revolver, all of which was invisible to the other mortals. Firing the gun, streams of fire shot out at them, and lit them on fire!

The raging flames and the horrified screams were more than enough to scare the minor spirit out of hiding, leaving only one left. Once done, Desperado left the priest, who had no memories of what had transpired.

"There you are, Fred! I have told you so many times before, there are no moles in the cellar."

* * *

Flow moved into one of the bathrooms on the ground floor, where Josette had located the presence of the final cat spirit, and being a spirit of water, Flow knew that cats weren't too happy to get wet. With the shower as her fetter, she used Flood to fill the room with more water than the drains could handle, and that was more than enough to scare away the little cat spirit.

And that wasn't the only result, for at that moment, one of the mortals were heading towards the bathroom to hide, but instead he was swept across the floor by the mass of water when he opened the door. And since the water disappeared shortly after, leaving no trace behind, the poor mortal just couldn't figure out what the heck had happened.

"Oh, Otto, you always get lost in here." Netty said. "Now all my little kittens are back with their nana, thank you so much, dearest." she then said, thanking Josette as the Ghost Master had arrived shortly before.

The chain binding Netty, shattered and faded away, but that was not the only thing that happened. All nine of the cat-orbs started spinning around in a circle, meeting in the middle and merging into a single cat ghost. The fur was a total mishmash of colours, having segments of black, yellow, orange, light brown, dark brown and red all over, while it lacked both fur and flesh on its tail, across the back and the left side of the face, showing the bone underneath.

"Oh my! Why, I never. My little kittens, they all became one big kitten. Well, I guess it will be easier to keep track of them now."

"This was… new." Josette said, surprised about the merging of the cats. Then her handbook vibrated, and opening it, she saw that a page had been filled in with a new spirit, that of the cats, a Horde ghost. Instead of one name, though, all nine of the cats were written, but in a certain order. Jasper, Eric, Fred, Frank, Eugene, Rick, Seth, Otto and Norman. Taking the first letter of all their names, spelled out the name Jefferson, and as far as Josette was concerned, that was just as good as anything else.

* * *

By now, more than half of the mortals had fled, but the priest was still braving the haunting, seeking to end it, even though it had already taken its toll on him. He felt a strange pull towards the master bedroom, though he couldn't understand why, for little did he know that it was the Fascinate power of Bobby, drawing him in.

As he entered the room, he felt Bobby's presence, having honed in on it. But Bobby wasn't alone, the Count was still bound to the room, and he was more than ready to unleash his anger upon the unsuspecting mortal. A Legion of spectral bats flew out from the Count's cape, swarming the priest, and giving the two ghosts enough time to both use Spooky Surprise.

Appearing in front of the priest, Bobby with his head in his hands and the Count with his hands clawed and fangs bared, the mortal's will was finally broken, and he ran down the stairs as fast as he could. Once he was gone, the chain binding the Count vanished.

"Finally, he is gone. You have no idea of how boring it has been to listen to his prayers every night for these last twenty years. Just tell me what you want done, you can 'count' on me!"

The Count's lame pun aside, it had all in all been a successful night, but they weren't done just yet, they still needed to scare away the remaining few mortals.

Any who tried to hide indoors quickly changed their opinion when the electronics started dancing, or rooms were flooded. Horrible wails and shrieks were followed by numerous zombie cats, chasing after mortals like they were mice. Outside, the monstrous duo of Skelesaurus and Lonewolf drove people to the woods with ease, while a lone woman was trapped in a thin, but strong layer of frost. And while it only lasted a few minutes, she didn't need any more incentive to flee, but she got one either way. She and three more mortals suddenly erupted in flames.

As the last burning mortals fled into the night, the light of their flames visible for a long while, a portal opened above the mansion, beckoning the spirits to return home, together with their new teammates.

* * *

Finally back at the Ghoul Room, Josette retired to her chambers, it had been a long and eventful night, and she was very glad for it to be over. The rest of her team took it upon themselves to get the new recruits settled in.

Lonewolf, being the wild spirit he was, found his place outside, together with his fellow hunter, Skelesaurus.

Netty, together with her cat-collective, Jefferson, both found a good place in a small hallway of one of the apartments, which had an old rocking chair for the Banshee, while her cat simply stayed at her side.

The Count would normally not have settled for anything less than the best in the building, but seeing that Josette had already claimed that room, he decided to pick another spot to call his own. She had after all helped him in his time of need. So, he instead found an old hunting trophy in the map room, the mounted head of a moose, that he deemed more than enough for him.

 **And another chapter done! Man, these things take time and effort. But it was fun! Hope you guys liked it!**

 **More is to come, be certain about that! As well as four more pictures on my DeviantArt page.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

 **Spook In Need**

A few weeks had passed since Josette had been brought before the Haunter Committee, accused of taking the life of a mortal during one of her hauntings. And while Charles had intervened, bringing to light the fact that the mortal would have perished shortly either way, Josette was still not off the hook. The Committee would discuss the event and get back to her once they had reached a decision, during which time she would continue with her duties as normal.

The thing was, after her last haunting, a mission to an old mansion, she hadn't heard anything from the Committee. Not a single message. No new missions. Not even Charles had contacted her.

She was getting very worried. She feared that they would still punish her, and she especially feared what would happen to her team. The fact that everyone had gotten very restless wasn't helping either.

But finally, a portal opened in the map room. Had Josette still had a beating heart, it would have pounded hard in her chest as she got extremely nervous of what might come.

Her non beating heart would also have skipped a beat when she saw who stepped through the portal, as it was none other than Caius Talius, the Phantom representative of the Frighteners for the Haunters Committee.

"Ghost Master Josette." he said, looking at Josette with a look of disappointment.

"Yes?"

"We have come to a verdict regarding the incident, and I have been… chosen to deliver it. On the charges of taking a mortal's life, we find you… not guilty."

"Wait, what?!" That was not what she had expected when she saw Caius arrive.

"You are not guilty. The unique circumstances of this case have forced us to see this in another light, and the incredibly short time that the mortal would have lived with such a weak heart anyway further cements this as nothing but an unfortunate accident."

"So, that is it?" she asked, still not sure what had just happened.

"Nearly, her spirit is however trapped in that location. If you can aid her in moving on, all will be forgiven. I will personally go over the mission details with you and your team in just a moment. But there is one final thing, or two things actually. First, I… I must apologize to you. You have done a great job, and I have been unjust towards you. I hope that this might be a suitable apology."

Reaching inside his robes, he pulled out a rolled up piece of parchment and gave it to Josette.

"By the will of the Committee, as of this moment, your training is complete, you are now a fully fledged Ghost Master. Congratulations."

Josette took the parchment, opened it and read it several times, just to be certain that she wasn't imagining it, and she wasn't. She struggled to contain her excitement, as well as a giggle over the fact that one of her classmates had made a bet on him becoming a true Ghost Master before the rest. She could almost see the look upon his face when the news would hit him.

"Now, with that out of the way…" Caius said, clearing his throat before continuing. "Please summon your Haunters, you got work to do tonight."

* * *

A familiar structure on the map had its ethereal bat replaced with a green glow, as Caius was about to brief the squad on their new mission, though he felt very uncomfortable, not only with the to him menial task, but he could feel that he was far from well-liked by the other spirits.

"Your mission tonight is rather simple. Return to the dormitory, and help the spirit of Wendy Weaver move on. Find her and listen to her request, and once you are done, proceed with scaring everyone else away, to make up for lost time. Since your last visit, the two witches have left the area, so you will have no problem with them, and as such, six Haunters will suffice."

Taking one last look at all the spirits around him, Caius felt that he had outstayed his welcome and opened a portal back to the Spirit Realm.

"Well, I believe you can handle it from here, so I will take my leave. Best of luck to you all." he said before stepping through the portal.

"Good riddance, I say." Jack spat once the portal had closed. "But congratulations on your promotion, boss!"

"Indeed, and a well earned one at that." said the Count.

"Thank you, but we will have to wait with celebrating until after we are done with this mission."

"So, which of us are you taking with you?" asked Booby.

Giving it some thought, Josette tried to remember what kind of fetters the dormitory had available.

"I think I want Snakepit, the Count, Chuckles and Jabu. And maybe Gravedigger and Firecracker as well."

"We're ready when you are boss." the Fire Elemental said excitedly. "Let's get to work!"

* * *

Emerging once again above the dormitory, Josette went on ahead of her team to locate the spirit of poor Wendy. Despite that she would have perished through natural means by now, Josette still felt incredibly guilty for what had happened, and promised herself to do anything she could to help Wendy, they owed her that much at least.

It didn't take long to locate Wendy, as she was bound to her room, which had clearly been searched by someone, for everything was all over the place. Evidently, the mortals here didn't respect their dead, and that only made Josette feel even worse.

Wendy, now a Spook, had changed quite a lot compared to her mortal form, though she still retained her facial features, parted hair and glasses. Her ghostly body was completely white and had a slight feminine build, complete with a short skirt or dress-like part, and she had only three fingers on each hand.

"Excuse me." Josette said, catching the Spook's attention.

"Huh? W-who, or what, are you?" Wendy responded, clearly afraid of Josette.

"Please, Wendy, there is no need to be frightened. My name is Josette, and I am here to help you."

"Help me? How can you help me? And how do you know my name?"

"Because it is because of me and my team that you died." Josette explained with a sad voice.

"What?! You killed me?! Why?! What did I ever do to you?!"

"It was a very unfortunate accident. If you will just let me explain, I will answer your questions as best I can."

Not really feeling that she had any other options, Wendy decided to listen to what Josette had to say. And it did shed some light on things.

"So, I would've been dead now anyway?"

"Sadly, yes. And while it does not change anything, I am truly sorry for what we did to you. And as I said, we are here tonight to help you move on, to free you from the chain binding you to this realm."

"And then what? Will I just disappear or something?"

"No, you will not. For the time being, you will follow us to our base here in Sunshine Valley, from there we will be able to help you to the Spirit Realm."

"Okay… So, how do you help me? Do you got, like, a ghostly locksmith?"

"You will have to tell me, only you can feel what you need in order to move on."

"What I feel?" Wendy took a moment to think about it, looking around her room, then she figured it out. "Well, after I died, there were a few of my 'friends' that didn't waste much time going through my stuff, leaving me with this mess. Deal with them, and then we'll see where we stand."

"With pleasure. Those that do not respect the dead must learn their place."

"Then start with Louise Jameson, she was the first one to loot my stuff. She's the red-headed bimbo that acts like the leader of this place."

"As you wish." Josette said with a slight bow and left to locate the mortal before going back to her team.

However, as she searched the dormitory, she did come across something that caught her attention, a strong presence that seemed to emanate from the common room. Yet she could not see any spirits in the area, just a group of mortals and a small dog, most likely a puppy, its leash tied to a leg of the couch.

Feeling that it was something suspicious about the little dog, Josette moved closer to the small canine. Its short fur mostly grey with a few patches of brown, one such around it's left eye, and it wore a red collar.

As she got close, the puppy's shadow grew darker and began to boil like thick, black tar, and a larger figure slowly rose from it behind the puppy. The entity took the vague shape of a large dog, completely covered or made out of tar, with only its red eyes, sharp white teeth and large bone spikes along the spine as the exceptions.

With a long snarl, it looked at the leash that bound the puppy, then back at Josette again, and only then did she notice the there was a spectral chain that overlapped with the actual leash.

"This snare holds me… free me from it and I will hunt with you…" it said with a dark

and growling voice.

"Who are you?" Josette asked.

"I was never given a name… you may just call me… Puppy…"

"Puppy…? As you wish. We will free you from your snare."

* * *

Returning to her team, Josette explained the situation for them, especially the request of Wendy.

"So she wants us to specifically target certain mortals?" said Chuckles.

"Correct, and our first target is a Louise Jameson. Until we have dealt with her, we should avoid the other mortals, just in case. Still, we need to build up some more plasm, so feel free to soften up the others as well, just be careful not to scare them away. Not yet anyway."

"Asss you sssay." said Snakepit, as he and the others spread out across the area.

Not much later, the team had already collected a decent amount of plasm. Firecracker would use Cut Lights to darken a whole room, while Jabu and Gravedigger used Moan and Stink respectively to unsettle the mortals. Chuckles used Fright to put some of the tougher mortals to the scare, really softening them up for later on.

With the plasm levels high enough, the ghosts sought out their target, who had also been exposed to the initial move of the spirits, and now, she would get the full force. The redhead was in the kitchen together with two of her 'minions', other girls that followed her every whim, hoping to be as popular as her.

Firecracker made the first move, using Bonfire to set the entire kitchen ablaze, and easily scaring the three young women out of it. The two minions out into the garden, and Louise into the common room where the Count waited for her. The foosball table was filled with violent and emotional energies, allowing it to be used by many spirits. A Spooky Surprise followed by a Legion were more than enough to send her screaming into the night, the visage of the vampire-like spirit and his horde of red-eyed ghost bats permanently burned into her memory.

Hearing the screams brought a smile to Wendy, and shortly after, Josette returned.

"The first one has been dealt with."

"Yeah, I heard that. And it felt good to know that that cow got what she deserved. Okay, next I want you to take care of Elaine Harding, she would always try and find some way to disturb my studies, throwing loud parties right before an important test, same thing every time."

"She will not remain here for long." Josette promised with a bow. Consulting her handbook, she found the mortal she was looking for, a short-haired blond with a few piercings. With the image of Elaine transmitted to all her haunters, all Josette had to do was wait.

* * *

Having retreated to her room with a young man she fancied, they thought that they would be all alone, but they were dead wrong. Without any warning, her feet were ripped from the floor and she dangled upside down in the middle of the room in front of the shocked young man. Then everything in the room started flying all over, and once Elaine was dropped on the floor, the two mortals hurried out of the room, escaping into the garden, leaving the duo of Jabu and Chuckles laughing in the bedroom.

The mortals were not any safer outside though, for Gravedigger and Snakepit awaited them in the garden. Elaine and the young man had luckily run in different directions, luckily for the spirits that is, so they could focus all their attention on poor Elaine.

Stopping to get her breath back, she suddenly started sinking into the soil beneath her, all the way up to her chest. Panicking, she desperately tried to dig herself out, but thinks went from bad to worse when a horde of spectral snakes surrounded her, many of them slithering over her as well.

As suddenly as it all started, it also stopped, and Elaine was released from her earthly prison, and she didn't waste any time running for her life, still screaming as she vanished in the dark of the night.

Together with Josette, Wendy could see Elaine through the window, running away for a good distance, and she felt really good about it all.

"Serves her right. If only I could have done something like this to her earlier." she said with a wide smile. "Let's see here… next I want you to deal with Bruce Travol. That pig has hit on every girl in school except me, because I was 'too ugly for him'. I can stand not being attractive to him, but he don't have to walk up to me and say it to my face right out of the blue in front of everyone at school."

"Do not worry, he will not escape his fate."

* * *

The mortal known as Bruce Travol was at that moment down in the basement, having already witnessed some of the Haunters' powers, and thus he had already been softened up a bit. With nothing having happened for a while, he thought it was safe to return upstairs. As brave and cocky as he appeared to others, he was in fact a big coward, hiding behind the facade that he had built up over years.

But such things didn't concern the spirits, especially not Chuckles, whom used his Aura Reading to learn Bruce's deepest fear so the others could exploit it. Hitting a mortal with their fears was very effective, as they would feel like something was out to get them, and it also awarded the team bonus points on the mission evaluation.

With Bruce's fear of fire uncovered, a certain Fire Elemental grinned almost wickedly and hurried to the boiler before the mortal could leave the area. Using his newest power, that Josette had had him learn during the long wait, the energy of Human Torch stuck the unknowing mortal without mercy.

Bruce never had any time to really understand how he could just spontaneously burst into flames, before he was overwhelmed by an all consuming panic. Firecracker just couldn't stop laughing as the hapless mortal ran around in the basement like a headless chicken for almost a minute before he finally managed to escape the basement and eventually the dorm as well. His burning form also scared a lot of the remaining mortals, and was visible in the dark for a very long time.

* * *

Back in Wendy's room, she could hear the screams of terror as Bruce fled the area, and she felt… free, that justice had been delivered. And with that, her chain snapped and dissolved. But before either she or Josette could say anything, Jabu arrived.

"Mission done, boss mon!" he said proudly with a very lax salute.

"I already know, Jabu, but thank you all the same."

At that point, Jabu noticed the female spook and stopped for a moment before regaining his composure.

"'Ello dere!" he said, adjusting his large hat and floated over to her. "Name be Jabu, and you be?"

"Um… well, I'm… uh… Wendy." she answered nervously.

"Wendy. Pretty name for pretty lady!"

"Oh, thank you."

If she could, Wendy would have blushed at the attention, and Josette could only smiled in response.

"Please, Jabu, give her some room. We will all have time to get to know her after we are done here. We still have one more spirit to aid, and after that, we will scare away every mortal that remains."

"Mind if I give a hand?" Wendy asked. "The three worst ones may have gotten what they deserved, but, like, nobody here have been nice to me."

"It would be my pleasure."

* * *

With three of the present mortals gone, only fifteen remained, and many of them were already shaken from either their own experienced or from seeing what had happened to the others, and things were just about to get worse.

With half of them gathered in the common room, together with Puppy, the team had a great opportunity. With the TV-set as his fetter, Firecracker used Bonfire to light the entire room on fire, efficiently scaring the whole lot of mortals, and that was not all that happened. As most of the mortals ran around, trying to escape the fire, and a few trying to put out the flames in what way they could, they all forgot about the little puppy.

Yet, the animal was unharmed by the fire, just like the mortals, and unlike them, it didn't even react to the event. But the leash was, the flames consuming it without mercy, unlike the rest of the interior, and with the leach destroyed, the spirit was freed.

"At long last… now, let this Shadow be cast over our victims…" Puppy growled approvingly, the spectral shadow and the physical puppy both dissolving into shadows, appearing as one next to Josette.

"That should be all spirits then." Josette thought out aloud, then she reached out to her team telepathically with a single order. "Listen up everyone… Enjoy yourselves."

That was all they needed to hear, the team quickly spread out all over the Haunting area, each with a wide grin, even Puppy followed its new pack into the hunt of the night. But there was one ghosts that wasn't as enthusiastic as the rest.

"Um… so… yeah… should I just… hang around here and look spooky?" Wendy asked Josette. "Or is there something that I'm missing?"

"You do have powers at your disposal, all you have to do is tap into our supply of plasm and use it to power your powers, unleashing it on the mortals."

"Okay… and how do I do that? I'm still very new to all this."

"Of course, I will explain in more detail."

* * *

It took a few minutes for Wendy to grasp the concept of her new abilities, but Josette was a good and patient teacher, still being rather fresh out of school herself. And while they did that, the rest of the team were having a blast.

Being more mobile thanks to his Indoor fetters, Jabu herded mortals towards the others with his Chase and Kinesis. Firecracker also helped with that, thanks to the large amount of Electrical fetters in the building, and any who would try to escape outside would soon fall victim to Snakepit.

With two thirds of the mortals already going or gone, the mission was drawing to an end. Two more mortals ran out screaming from the common room, pursued by a Legion of bats, only to trip and fall in the yard because the eight foot tall weeds created by Snakepit's Creepers power. Struggling to get up again, they got an additional incentive when the weeds disappeared and dozens of snakes slithered all over the place.

One lone mortal managed to escape into Wendy's room, hoping that she would be safe there.

She wasn't.

Nervously, Wendy appeared in front of the mortal, having gathered up all her courage to do a Brief Scare. Her attempt at a scary face was far from high quality, but it was more than enough to scare away the already terrified mortal. Though, the mortal's horrified scream scared Wendy as well, and her own scream just added to the terror of the mortal.

With the equivalent of a heart racing, Wendy faded back to the normal state for a ghost, getting comforted by Josette.

"You did good, Wendy. Very good for your first try." she said.

"… thank you…" Wendy said, still trying to calm down.

"So, how did it feel?"

"It was… terrifying… I felt so nervous… but… it was fun."

"I know that feeling. Now there are only a few mortals left, then we will return to our base."

* * *

A few more mortals hurried out in the backyard, aiming to avoid the haunted inside of the dormitory, and with everything that had happened lately it was understandable. As they reached the middle of the yard, the barking of a small dog caught their attention.

Looking to their left, they saw the little puppy running towards them, all happy to see them. A blonde woman instantly picked up the puppy and cradled it in her arms.

"Thank God that you're okay!" she said.

But that's when all went south, for a thick and tar-like mass exploded out from the puppy and took the horrifying form of the Shadow known as Puppy, materialising in front of the mortals, growling loudly.

With all of the remaining mortals running for their lives after Puppy's Hide and Seek, the spirit unleashed one final power against the slowest of them, Mania. At once, the blonde woman's mind was filled with bizarre and horrible images, which was more than she could handle and her mind broke.

Laughing like a madwoman, she just dropped to the ground, took a mouthful of grass, rolled over onto her back and kept laughing. She would keep that up until the next day, when she was finally rescued by medical personnel and taken to a psychiatrist.

But that was beyond the concerns of the Haunting team, for as the woman succumbed to insanity, all sane mortals had been driven away, and the portal back to the Ghoul Room opened, beckoning the team to return home.

* * *

Once they returned home, they got praise from Charles for rescuing Wendy and for their performance, especially for driving one of the mortals insane, something that scored twice the points of scaring one away in the mission evaluation, and thus gained them more gold plasm.

Wendy was offered a place to stay and rest until she could decide what she wanted to do. Taking residence in one of the apartments, in a room very similar to her old one, she felt at peace and accepted for the first time in years. She was also exhausted, so she quickly fell asleep.

The Shadow Puppy settled outside in the yard, joining his fellow hunters Skelesaurus and Lonewolf. Woe to anyone who would enter the garden without their approval.

With the night drawing to an end, Josette retreated to her chambers and let her team do what they pleased, she had enough on her mind. The night had been nothing but good, being able to help Wendy, as well the unknown spirit Puppy, made her feel very good. And then there was the fact that she had been promoted to a fully fledged Ghost Master, something that she still had a hard time to believe. Still, it didn't really change anything.

Actually, that wasn't completely true. While her work wouldn't change, she now had even higher expectations on her, both from the Committee and from herself.

 **And so ends a way too long overdue chapter. Seriously, I'm so sorry for taking so long on this chapter, I just couldn't get past the darn block on this story, so I kept working on my main stories instead, which just took even more time from this.**

 **Hopefully it will not take nearly as long for the next chapter to be written.**

 **Also, new pics on my Deviantart will be up shortly.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

 **Ten O'Clock Boos**

There had been a few quiet days after the teams last mission to the dormitory, and during that time, their newest undead member, Wendy had had time to get used to her new existence, both as a ghost and as a member of Josette's team. Though fellow Spook Jabu kept following her from time to time, he seemed to really like her, and she wasn't quite used to that yet, which surprised her.

Josette and Nereid was small-talking, something they had started doing more often, at the time being in the maproom when the rise of a new structure interrupted them. Looking at the paper construct, they saw that it was of a tall building, similar to the office building a few weeks earlier, but with several metal dishes on top.

"It would seem that we got another mission." Josette said.

"So it does." said Nereid. "I will gather the others."

* * *

A few minutes later the entire team had gathered around the map, eagerly waiting for the briefing as Josette tapped the paper building.

"An interesting opportunity have presented itself, Ghost Master. A group of mortals, referring to themselves as the Sceptic Society, are adamant in their lack of belief in the supernatural, openly denouncing the very presence of ghosts. Normally we would deal with them in a timely fashion, teach them some respect and such, but right now we have an even better opportunity.

Set to appear on their television later this evening, to speak out and preach about their disbelief to countless other mortals. Teach them that we are real, make them believe, before this show is broadcast, but beware that you and your team does not leave too much proof for the rest, be mindful of their cameras. A squad of seven may be needed for this mission."

"Sounds like a tactical mission." said Clarence, rubbing his chin. "So which spirits will you take with you, Ghost Master?"

"Good question." Josette said, thinking for a while. "I believe that I will bring Soar, Twitch, Jack and Swarm to begin with, then I would like Netty, Nereid and… Wendy."

"Me? Are you sure about that?"

"I am. I have got a feeling that you will be a good asset to our team, if you would like to remain that is."

"Well, I guess I can give it a try. It was rather fun when I did it the last time."

"We are ready when you are, Josette." said Nereid.

"Then let us be on our way." Josette said, tapping the paper construct again, opening the portal to the TV-studio.

* * *

Emerging through the portal, the team saw the studio beneath them, and Josette remembered seeing it when they had first arrived in Sunshine Valley and were searching for a suitable Ghoul Room. It was easy to identify with all the satellite dishes, and as they got closer, they spotted a spirit chained to the ventilation intake.

Sitting on top of a small cloud was a small green frog with big blue eyes and a happy smile, and when it saw Josette close in, it waved with its front foot.

"Hi there! I'm Puddles!" it said in a voice similar to a happy little girl. "Do you think you can help me? I was flying around, looking at all the pretty lights, but then I got too close to this and got sucked in. And now I can't go anywhere, but at least I can still see all the pretty lights."

Josette looked at the intake, and thought on how they would free the little frog. She had started studying modern technology a little, and understood roughly how ventilation systems worked and what they might do.

"Do not worry, my little friend. We will free you from this."

"You will? Yay! Thank you!" Puddles cheered, hopping up and down on her little cloud.

* * *

Continuing her search through the studio building, Josette found many different rooms, ranging from recording studios and offices, to staff rooms and display rooms. And in one of the few display rooms, she found her next spirit in need.

A male ghost wearing a light grey hockey outfit, with orange shorts, gloves, helmet and skates, the number eleven written on chest and back in orange. He held a hockey stick and his head was turned sideways, the neck clearly snapped, and his eyes were obscured by the visor of the helmet. The chain bound him to a trophy of glass inside a glass display cabinet.

"That trophy should have been mine." he snarled. "I made the last goal, I won that game for us, even if I broke my neck in the process. But could they even be bothered putting my name on it? Heck no, they couldn't! Just one little name, that's all it would have taken. Even postmortem would have been okay."

The ghost took a swipe at the trophy with his hockey stick, but just passed straight through it with no effect, making him sigh.

"Can't even break the stupid thing."

"Do you want us to destroy it?" Josette asked.

"If you can, I'd appreciate it."

"Then so it shall be. We will return shortly."

* * *

After having searched the entire building, Josette found one last trapped spirit, chained to a guitar in a room with many instruments, ranging from piano and drums to trumpets and saxophones. The room also had loudspeakers and microphones connected to a control table with a computer.

The ghost was male, and he wore a grey pinstripe suit, with a black fedora, black tie, fine black shoes, white gloves and held an acoustic guitar. His head was a skull with black shades covering his eyes completely.

"This place, it got no groove, you know." he said with a dark and smokey, but still suave voice. "It needs some groove, some soul, otherwise… I can't jam, you know. Shooby do bop. Let the tunes fly, and the souls feel the vibes, and I'll break down the walls with m guitar, shooby do bop."

Josette was stumped for a while, trying to piece together what exactly the spirit had said.

"You… want to hear some music?"

"Right on, lassie. But not any music, something with soul and groove, something strange even."

"I… will see what we can do."

* * *

After having briefed her team on the situation, she sent them ahead to start building up the plasm levels, while she pondered on how to help the restless spirits.

Wendy started things off by slowly and steadily softening up various mortals with her Brief Scare, Moan and Leak powers. She was very nervous at first, but as she continued, she started to grow more confident in her abilities. The janitor in the basement was the hardest target of her early scares, but she did enjoy how he frantically tried to mop up all the water from her Leak power. His will didn't last long after Wendy showed herself though, and he were the first of many mortals to flee the studio that night.

Twitch absolutely loved the area, there were so many electrical devices all throughout the building, giving the Gremlin a large number of fetters to choose from. His Wild and Crazy caused massive amounts of terror as entire rooms filled with equipment went berserk. Likewise, that power as well as Spark could easily disable any surveillance cameras that he found, even if it was only temporary. And Jack was just as home with all the electronics, having a blast as he popped up in front of mortals, scaring them good before setting some other poor mortal on fire.

The long hallways were perfect for Swarm, who could continuously pursue its victims all over the place, no matter where they tried to hide from the ghostly insects. And the Banshee Netty could just as easily use the hallways, being Thoroughfare fetters, and the horrifying sounds of her Wail and Shriek accompanied her, echoing throughout the hallways.

The remaining spirits were sent out to locate the members of the Sceptic Society, and there were only two of them, their president Melissa Frost and vice-president John Hyde. Melissa was preparing for the interview, talking with the host of the show, while John was busy flirting wildly with some of the reporters a few floors down.

* * *

Once the plasm levels had reached a high enough amount, Josette ordered her team to go easy on the mortals, just scaring them enough to keep the plasm steady, in case they might need the mortals later on. There were also several studios where there were live broadcasts, and thus they avoided them, which had spared some of the mortals from the ghosts so far, and might continue to do so for quite a while.

But that wasn't their current concern, first and foremost they aimed to free the trapped spirits, while still having enough time to deal with their objective. The first one they focused on was the spirit of the hockey player, know only as number Eleven, his request being the most simple.

Arriving in the display room, Josette found what she was looking for, in the form of a ventilation outlet.

"Soar, if you would be so kind?" she said, directing the Air Elemental to the outlet.

The strong air current was concentrated enough to act as a fetter for the small spirit, and once she gathered the plasm she needed, she unleashed an ear-piercing scream, which shattered not only the glass of the display cabinet, but the trophy as well, and the lenses of the security camera. With the trophy destroyed, the chain binding Eleven to it dissolved.

"And she scores!" Eleven cheered. "Great teamwork! Now there's no need for me to hang around here any more, so give me the tactic and I'll get right on it, coach!"

"Coach? Well, I suppose that works. And we still have a lot to do, so just follow us for now."

* * *

With Eleven on their team, the group grew quite a lot stronger, and he quickly lent his powers to their cause, helping them in keeping the mortals on edge while Josette focused on the remaining spirits.

With the aid of Twitch, they were able to follow the ventilation shaft back to its source, a large machine that Josette couldn't make heads or tails of, nor could she really interact with it, but luckily she didn't have to. A well-placed Wild and Crazy from the Gremlin made the machine go nuts, and the flow of the air was eventually altered for a short moment.

That moment was however enough, with the air now blowing out of the intake, Puddles was freed from her prison. In fact, the wind was so forceful that the little spirit was launched a long way, but she didn't mind, she just thought that it was fun, and she then flew several laps around the building in pure happiness, before joining Josette.

"That was fun! Thank you sooo much for helping me!" the little frog cheered.

"You are most welcome. We could not simply leave you up here."

"Then let me help you! This will be so fun!"

With the small but energetic spirit in tow, Josette could now focus on helping the ghost with the most difficult request, the musical spirit called Hellwood, and he wanted to 'feel the groove' as he put it.

Reaching the music room, Josette studied it thoroughly trying to figure out how to play music for the ghost. There were a lot of instruments present, but they just couldn't interact with them in the right way, and she had no idea of what kind of music that would have the soul and groove that Hellwood wanted to hear.

A thought crossed her mind as her eyes stopped on the computer. While modern technology wasn't her strong suite, she was fairly certain that the computer was used for musical purposes, so if they could just cause it to play some, maybe they would be lucky enough to get the right kind of music.

"Twitch, I might need your help again." she said telepathically to the Gremlin, which quickly came to her side.

As per Josette's instructions, Twitch bound himself to the computer and once again unleashed his Wild and Crazy in the room. The computer flashed and buzzed and bleeped as the power coursed through it, and after a few moments it finally calmed down, and music started pouring out of the loudspeakers, filling the room with an upbeat piano melody.

"Hmmm… not bad… but it don't really have the soul…" Hellwood said, slowly shaking his head.

"I think we have to do it again, Twitch." Josette said, and the hyper rodent struck a second time. Once the computer calmed down after the shock again, a new song was played. Soft violin music, fitting for a little romantic rendezvous at a restaurant.

"Now this… this got soul… but it lacks the groove…"

"Twitch, again please." Josette sighed.

The computer buzzed again, and started playing some modern hip-hop music, but Hellwood just shook his head to it.

"No no… this is all wrong…"

By that time, the rest of the team had showed up, hopping that they could possibly help. Having tired himself out quite a lot already, Twitch used his power for the forth time, and this time a special song was played.

People are Strange, by The Doors. And that resonated with Hellwood.

 _People are strange when you're a stranger_

 _People are strange when you're a stranger_ _  
_ _Faces look ugly when you're alone_ _  
_ _Women seem wicked when you're unwanted_ _  
_ _Streets are uneven when you're down_

After hearing the first lines of the song, Hellwood picked up his guitar, playing and singing along.

 _When you're strange  
Faces come out of the rain  
When you're strange  
No one remembers your name  
When you're strange  
When you're strange  
When you're strange_

 _People are strange when you're a stranger  
Faces look ugly when you're alone  
Women seem wicked when you're unwanted  
Streets are uneven when you're down  
_

 _(Instrumental music)_

 _When you're strange  
Faces come out of the rain  
When you're strange  
No one remembers your name  
When you're strange  
When you're strange  
When you're strange_

 _A'right yeah  
_

Suddenly, all of the instruments in the room started playing along to the music, empowered by the strong emotions of Hellwood himself. Most of the team was also enjoying the performance, and Jack even bobbed his head, or body, to the beat of the music.

 _When you're stra-a-ange  
Faces come out of the rain  
When you're strange  
No one remembers your name  
When you're strange  
When you're strange  
When you're stra-ange _

As the music faded, so did the chain binding Hellwood. Giving his guitar a quick spin, the spirit hovered over to the others.

"Now that… that was some real groove and soul… Mind if I tag along? I've been a solo artist for far too long…"

"Not at all, my friend. You are a welcomed addition to our group."

* * *

With all the restless spirits save, Josette could focus on their mission. But they were running out of time, so they had to work fast to scare away Melissa Frost and John Hyde, all while avoiding leaving too much evidence of their existence. John would be the easiest of the two, as he were far away from any of the TV cameras, but they still needed a way to get Melissa to a less exposed area.

The group continued working on maintaining the plasm level by scaring pretty much anyone they came across, resulting in several mortals fleeing in terror.

Swarm, Wendy, Puddles and Netty were dispatched to deal with John, seeking him out on the lower floors, in a staff room, where he was busy flirting with another female worker of the studio.

A Wail and a Shriek from Netty put a stop to the flirtation, as she stalked the hallway right outside. Wendy then followed up with a combined Brief Scare and Swarm Strike from Swarm, the ghostly apparition and swarm of insects easily ruining the mood for John. But it was Puddles that put the final nail in the coffin, using the TV-set as a fetter and unleashing the power of Surge, electrocuting both mortals.

They did however do the job a bit too good, as John and his female prospect were knocked unconscious, much to the delight of the spirits. And as soon as they would wake up, they would be on their way out of the building as fast as they could possibly run. For someone claiming to be sceptical of ghosts, he was surprisingly easy to 'convince', and thus leaving only one target left.

But with the interview just a few minutes away, they had to act fast. Ordered to use a water dispenser in a nearby hallway, Nereid used her Siren Song, trying to focus on Melissa to draw her in. The fair and seductive song reached many people in the near vicinity, including Melissa, luring them to their fate.

But much to the surprise of the Haunters, Melissa was able to fight the urge to follow the song all the way, and only got halfway to Nereid's location. Luckily, after switching fetters, that was close enough for them to begin their assault.

Hellwood started, using the emotional energies of the painting of the station's founder as a fetter, and used the power of Obsession to force Melissa to come closer, close enough for Eleven to follow up with his own powers. Bound to a stuffed bird mounted on the wall, Elven decided that she wasn't going anywhere for a while and used Frozen Stiff to trap her in a shell of ice, at least long enough for the rest of the squad to join up.

When the ice finally cracked, almost all of the team was in the area. Swarm, Jack, Wendy and Hellwood all appeared in front of Melissa, making her almost jump out of her skin. But despite that, she tried to remain calm, straightening out her clothes and hair.

"There are no ghosts." she said to herself. "There are no ghosts."

"What a stubborn broad." Jack complained. "She keeps denying that we're real."

"Just keep pressing her, she will believe in us before the night is over." said Josette.

Working together, Soar with her Tempest and Puddles with her Rain, the two spirits conjured up a strong rain storm inside the room, and Nereid quickly followed suit with her Haunted Hail, making it rain fish as well, all while Netty's Wail echoed in the hallway next to the room.

"G-ghosts a-ain't real… th-they don't e-exist…"

"She still persists. She must be one of the most stubborn mortals ever, even more so than some of my old suitors." Josette frowned. "Very well, then we shall hold nothing back!"

"Music to my ears." said Hellwood.

Striking a tone on his guitar, Hellwood let loose his Twister power on Melissa, pulling her off her feet and left her dangling upside down in the middle of the room. Wendy used Leak to make water spring forth from the walls, and it and the water from the rain then turned into blood, thanks to Nereid's Gore.

Flames erupted from Melissa's body as Jack hit her with Human Torch, and even if she still didn't believe in ghosts, she still couldn't run in panic from being set on fire, as she was still hanging upside down.

As she was dropped onto the floor, the flames went out and the blood vanished, leaving her with only the memories of the events.

"N-no… ghosts… aren't… real…" she forced herself to repeat.

A Shriek and a Shattering Song tore through her ears, and a powerful electrical Surge pulsed through the room, giving her a nasty shock. Once the shock had ended, she couldn't handle any more. She had been a firm believer that ghosts didn't exist, but that had changed, and she fled the building screaming.

"She will not doubt our existence any more." said Josette, as she and her team watched Melissa run away while they left through the portal.

* * *

As soon as the team got back to the Ghoul Room, the new recruits set out to find a place where they felt at home.

Puddles found a friend with Wolfgang by the air intake on the top of the building, enjoying the view of the city around them, while Eleven settled in the kitchen on the third floor. There had been a murder there many years earlier, and while the blood stains were long gone, the energies of the event was still there.

Speaking of residual energies, down in the café there was a lot of them, from many a karaoke events that had been held over the years, and the 'stage' in the far corner had a large enough concentration for Hellwood to pick up on. He would remain there, playing some soft tunes on his guitar.

* * *

Only a few minutes later, Josette was met by Firecracker, who seemed in quite the hurry.

"Hey, boss!" he said excitedly. "You need to see this! Quick, follow me!"

Not sure what was going on, Josette followed the Fire Elemental down to the second floor, where the criminals they had scared away to claim the café had stored their loot. Bobby and Jabu were already there, and shortly after, the rest of the ghost had also gathered there.

They had somehow managed to connect a stolen TV to the antennae on the roof, and had tuned in to the channel on which the interview with the Sceptic Society was to be on, and it had just started.

"Tonight, we were meant to interview Melissa Frost, president of the Sceptic Society." the narrator began. "However, just a few minutes ago, she was seen leaving the studio in quite the hurry. Witnesses also report that she was yelling something about ghosts being real. I guess she wasn't so sceptic after all."

Hearing that, the ghosts and spirits began laughing. Their night just got a whole lot better.

 **There we go! One final chapter out before the end of 2017. Hope you all enjoyed it, this was one of my favorites so far.  
** **I'll try to get the new ghosts up on Deviantart shortly, but don't hold your breath. You may have to wait until the next year even. :P**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

 **The Graveyard Shift**

The next night, Josette was moving around in the Ghoul Room, after just having finished watching the rerun of last night's show, specifically the final part where Melissa Frost, now former president of the Sceptic Society, was reported to have been running off into the night, screaming that ghosts were real. That was the laugh of the week.

As she reached the map room, she looked at all the structures that symbolised the missions she had gone on, and the small, green ethereal bats that signified that they were successful. There had been a few close calls, in one way or another, but they had managed to get through it, and Josette gave her team all the praise for it. She liked to think that if they were successful, it was because of them, but if they should fail, it would be because of her instead.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a new paper structure rising on the far edge the map, or rather a small hill with lots of different gravestones. Seeing that, Josette got very exited, remembering that the city originally was mostly a large grave-field, and she had heard that even the present graveyard was impressive. It was with a smile on her lips that she summoned her Haunters telepathically.

* * *

With everyone gathered, Josette tapped the paper grave-field and listened as Charles explained the mission.

"Greetings miss Josette, and your astounding team. A very well done job on the last mission, spirits are talking about it all over the Spirit Realm as of now. But going back to the mission ahead of you, you'll be going to the graveyard in the far west parts of Sunshine Valley, our scouts have discovered a couple of spirits there in need of aid.

The area is open and very few mortals are present at this time of day, so plan accordingly and do your best not to scare away too many mortals, you may need their belief.

I would also recommend that you try to make haste, as we have heard rumours about the Ghost Breakers being in the area, so beware.

Pick a team of six haunters for this mission, and begin when you're ready."

"Another tactical mission. Well, I can not think of anyone better suited for this area than Gravedigger, so what do you say?"

"What do I say? I'll tell you what I say! Yeehaw!" the ghost-miner cheered, tossing his hat high up in the air.

"That's one, but which other five will you be bringing?" asked Wendy.

"Hmm… I think Soar, Puddles, Jack, Bobby, and… Snakepit. That squad should suffice."

"Then let's get going!" said Puddles, being very excited.

* * *

Emerging from the portal above the grave-field, the team was astonished by the sheer size of it. They had heard that it was one of the largest in the world, and it was still well maintained by the mortals, containing many ornate gravestones, statues and smaller mausoleums, it even had a small chapel with a shed full of tools for taking care of the area.

The entire area was filled with spiritual energies, giving a lot of fetters of the Emotional spectrum, and most graves still had those of the Corpse kind, and a few even had Murder. And with all but the inside of the mausoleums being many zones of the Outside fetter, Josette's team would have great freedom of movement in this mission.

As expected, there weren't many mortals in the area, only half a dozen, most of which were young adults that were there on a dare. The remaining two were a caretaker that had decided to work on the cemetery during the night, and a priest, that was currently sleeping in the chapel.

"They weren't kidding when they said that this was a nice cemetery." said Bobby. "Wonder if I'm buried around here?"

"You might be, whippersnapper." said Gravedigger. "But I know where I'm buried, and that's under tonnes of mountain! Hehe!"

"We will have time to sightsee at a later date, but now we need to find those spirits in need." said Josette, and she and her team spread out to search the large area. Snakepit was the first to find one of the restless spirits, and instantly let Josette know.

"Ghossst Massster. I have found a ssspirit." he said telepathically.

Josette hurried to Snakepit's location, an unmarked grave, centuries old. Bound to the grave, was the spirit of a nun, wearing the classical attire of black robes with a rope belt and a white cowl. The lower ends of the robes were tattered, and her skin was white as snow. Her face was mostly featureless, with only black holes for eyes and a mouth open in a silent scream.

"Betrayal…" she said with a low, but howling voice. "Betrayal by those of my faith. Corruption stains their souls as my blood stains this land. One here still adheres to sin rather than faith. Prove the sinner wrong, put the fear of God back in him."

"Seems like we will have to scare away at least one mortal then." said Josette, and neither she nor Snakepit could help smiling at that notion.

Moving on, it wasn't long before another spirit had been located, this time inside one of the mausoleums. The chain of the spirit was attached to a skeleton on the floor, next too an open casket with a better preserved body of a woman

This one was of an elder gentleman, on the shorter and stouter side, dressed in a black and grey suit with a white shirt. He also wore black shoes, red socks, a purple sash, white gloves, a short red scarf and a red rose was attached to his coat, right over his heart. His skin was pale grey, and his hair was white, though he was almost bald, with hair only on the sides and the back of his head. His eyes were completely white and framed by bushy eyebrows, and an equally bushy moustache sat under his nose.

"Ah, good evening, miss." he said kindly when he saw Josette. "Would you be so kind as to listen to my request? I was working in here, years ago, preparing another customer for her final rest. But as I worked, the door was closed without me noticing, and I succumbed from the vapours of my chemicals. Could you please let some fresh air in?"

Looking at the door, Josette saw that it was a large and solid slab of stone, strong metal hinges with traces of rust held it in place. It looked more like its mass held it shut rather than any kind of lock.

"I think that we can arrange this for you." she said, looking back at the spirit, who smiled in response.

"That would very kind of you, my dear. I thank you in advance."

With a nod and a smile, Josette left the mausoleum to continue her search for any other restless spirits. So far, her team hadn't found anything more, so she was just about to have them all gather when she saw Jack hovering next to a grave with a statue of an angel as the headstone and with a small lantern by the foot of the statue, and he seemed confused.

"Jack? Is something wrong?"

"I'm not sure, boss. Listen for yourself and tell me what you think."

Doing as the Wisp suggested, at first Josette didn't hear anything out of the ordinary, but after a few moments, she heard something. Soft snoring, coming from the grave of all places.

"Snoring?"

"So you can hear it too? That's good, I thought I was loosing my mind. But seriously, who sleeps at a graveyard, other than those that should be."

"I think that you've found another restless spirit, Jack."

"Doesn't sound restless to me."

"Guess we will have to find a way to wake up this spirit then, see what we are dealing with. But first we should return to the others, and formulate a strategy for this mission."

* * *

With her team gathered again, and no other restless spirits discovered, it was time to go over the tactics for the night. Initially, all they would do were to soften up the four younger mortals, and then keep them just below what they could handle in terror, but not too much. The caretaker and the priest were of little concern to them, and could be roughed up if the others were getting close to leave in terror, even though the priest could pose a threat, at the moment, he was sleeping soundly in a small room in the chapel. Though eventually they would have to deal with the priest for the nun's sake, but they would do so with as much plasm at their disposal as possible.

Soar started softening up the group of younger mortals, by letting he Laughter echo in the middle of them. One of them frantically shone his flashlight all over the place, seemingly very disturbed by the sound, while the others were less affected. In order to better handle the four mortals without accidentally scaring away any of them, they would have to be scattered, which meant that Snakepit had a fine opportunity to place himself at the same spot as Soar, and unleashing his Scattered Swarm, spawning numerous snakes that cause the mortals to each run off in different directions.

Anyone that came close enough to the grave of a murder victim, were at the mercy of Bobby, whose Spooky Surprise gave them quite the scare, while Gravedigger and Jack kept hounding them wherever they went, with Dread and Brief Scare respectively.

It didn't take more than a few minutes before the group were on the verge of fleeing for their lives, and at that time the Haunters backed off a bit, only hitting the group with the weakest powers possible to keep them on their toes. But all the screaming had attracted the attention of the caretaker, who had seen a few of the ghosts as they had materialised at times, and after scratching his scruffy beard while thinking, he headed back to the shed to make a phone-call in peace.

Meanwhile, Puddles approached Soar with an idea and both flew up high above the grave-field with wide smiles. Soar's Tempest and Puddle's Rain brought a new weather to the night, and their powers mixed and turned into a proper storm, complete with lightning and thunder.

Josette observed the mortals, and saw that the priest was still sleeping, despite the thunder. The man must be a real heavy sleeper, and that reminded Josette of the third spirit, which she decided to check in on. Arriving at the grave, she could still hear the snoring from it, and she wondered how she would wake her up. As she was thinking, a lightningbolt struck only ten feet away from her, the flash, force and resounding thunderclap almost scaring her to death, if she hadn't been dead already.

Everyone else were also scared by the thunderclap, and a few of the younger mortals were very close to be overcome with fear. The priest was even woken up from his deep slumber, and he wasn't the only one. A yawn came from the grave where only snoring had been heard earlier, and a ghostly hand reached out from it and grabbed the lantern and lit it, or rather a ghostly copy of it.

"Oh dear. It looks like I've overslept again." a female voice said as the spirit emerged from the grave. She was a middle age woman with long, straight blonde hair, dark blue eyes and lustrous skin, and wore a light blue, old style nightgown, reaching her bare feet and with long sleeves.

"I must thank you for waking me up. My name is Jessibell, might I ask yours?"

"I am Josette. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

With a smile and a nod, Jessibell followed Josette as they headed for the next spirit in need of aid. On the way, Josette checked her handbook to learn a bit more about her new recruit, and to her surprise, Jessibell was actually a Sandman (there is no feminine form), a spirit that can put mortals to sleep and haunt their dreams, though they could usually only use a sleeping mortal as a fetter, which limited them a bit. But luckily, a mortal that has fainted from fear or similar, works just the same as a sleeping one, and that was something that Josette's team could arrange.

* * *

Arriving at the mausoleum, where the spirit known as Alphonso was trapped within, Josette looked at the dirt path outside it and knew how she would free him. A Quake from Gravedigger should be enough to either knock the door loose, or break it completely. But Quake was an expensive power in terms of plasm, so she had to message her entire team and tell them to drop off from their plasm reserves, so that Gravedigger would have what he need.

The storm quickly died out, and while the clouds still lingered in the sky, the night became calm and quiet once again. But that calm was about to be broken, as Gravedigger was in position right outside the mausoleum. Taking a quick look at his target, he spat in his hands, grabbed his pickaxe, lifted it over his head and swung it as hard as he could, his ghostly powers surging through it into the ground as it hit.

The entire grave-field shook and vibrated violently as the Quake took effect, knocking over a few gravestones and practically all kinds of smaller objects like vases and urns. Even the heavy stone door vibrated and finally slid open after who knows many year.

But to Josette's surprise, Alphonso was still trapped inside, and then it dawn on her. He didn't want to get out, he wanted new and fresh air inside the mausoleum, and while some had started to flow in from the outside, the vapours of chemicals still lingered inside. With a mental command to Soar and Puddles, Josette soon got the help she wanted for the final part of the problem. The two spirits placed themselves right outside the doorway and channelled their powers, Tempest and Typhoon respectively, creating a powerful windstorm that had trees bending to it, and mortals barely able to move against it.

The vapours inside the mausoleum soon cleared as the strong winds blowing in pushed it out to be dispersed, and after a short while, Alphonso took a deep breath as his chain withered away.

"Ah, fresh air has never felt so good, even if I don't need it any more. You have my thanks, kind miss, and I am at your disposal."

That only left one spirit still in need of aid, that of the Banshee nun, but to free her, they needed to scare away the priest, and he could be a threat if he got the chance. But after Josette had located him, she didn't feel very threatened as he could barely walk in a straight line.

"It seems his sin is alcohol, and he is deep in it too."

"No kidding, boss." said Jack. "This guy is drunk as a skunk. I bet that if we set fire to him, he'd burn for three days straight."

"Still, we would better deal with him quickly. Let us gather the others."

"Sure thing, boss!" Jack said with glee, and zipped away.

To be on the safe side, Josette had her team employ a hit and run tactic, tapping into the plasm and using a power, then disconnecting from the plasm to avoid a possible counter attack from the drunken priest. But that turned out to be unnecessary, for the priest was far too drunk to summon forth anything other than possibly vomit.

Snakepit started with a Scattered Swarm, the plethora of snakes driving the priest further away from the safer areas of the church's insides. Gravedigger then struck the priest with Dread, instantly kicking up his level of terror a good deal, which increased even more after Bobby appeared with Spooky Surprise. And after all that, the old priest had unintentionally been pushed towards the ghost of the nun, and with access to the Haunting team's plasm, she wasn't late to pitch in with Terror Incarnate, appearing in front of him in all her terrible visage, her screams echoing far and wide across the area.

"Sinner!" she shrieked, pointing her gnarled hand at the priest. "You dare abandon your faith for that of liqueur?! The gates of Heaven shall never open for the likes of you! Begone from this place! You are not worthy of the clothes that you wear!"

Once she was done, there was another loud scream, that of the priest as he fled for his life, tripping and falling numerous times on his way far away from the graveyard.

"It is done." the nun said calmly. "But my faith is still not repaid, and it was not God that aided me, but you, so I, sister Cecilia, shall aid you in return."

With that, her chain dissolved and Cecilia joined Josette's ranks, and the young Ghost Master felt that they had done a good job. Looking up into the sky, she saw the portal open, only to instantly close again.

"Beware, Ghost Master!" Charles' voice echoed in her head. "A group of Ghostbreakers have arrived at the scene! You must deal with them before it will be safe to return."

"Curses! I was hoping not to have to deal with them again. But I guess it can not be helped." Josette complained, then she contacted her team telepathically. "Everyone, if you did not hear, we have Ghostbreakers here now. Show them no mercy, but be careful."

* * *

Three individuals, all dressed in grey overalls and with backpack-sized machines on their backs walked cautiously among the graves, constantly scanning their surroundings with both their senses and scanners, their strange rifles ready to fire.

One was a man, a short but thick red beard adorning his otherwise bald head. The other two were women, one with short and curly blonde hair, and the second had black hair that reached just past her ears.

"I really don't like this place." said the woman with black hair.

"Man, that trip at the amusement park really did a number on you, didn't it?" said the male.

"Shut up! You weren't there!"

"Quiet! Both of you! I just got a blip on my scanner!" said the blonde woman.

Before anyone could investigate further, a disgusting and overpowering stench filled the immediate area, forcing the Ghostbreakers to cover their noses, but that did little to ease their building nausea. The blonde even threw up, not able to deal with the horrible stench.

But that was just the beginning, for once Alphonso had done his work with Nausea, Gravedigger took over, using Swallow to make the ground underneath one of the mortals open up and engulf them up to their chest, and the victim for that was the male Ghostbreaker.

Seeing her colleagues quickly fall victim to the ghosts, the black haired woman couldn't stand being near all the strange things, the memories of her previous experience haunting her anew, and ran away, trying to find cover until she could calm down and gather her senses.

Shortly after, the male Ghostbreaker was released from the earth, and he didn't waste any time trying to pursue whatever kind of spirit that had attacked them, following the readings on his scanner in a hurry, and completely ignoring the garbled warnings of his blonde colleague.

And that was what Josette was hoping for, to separate the three mortals from each other so that they couldn't support and cover each other. And with their main objective completed, all the mortals were fair game, which the ghosts capitalized on, generating a lot of plasm as they worked, and pulling the Ghostbreakers from each other with their presences.

* * *

The male Ghostbreaker came to a stop underneath a large tree that grew on the grounds, sweeping the area with his scanner to find the ghosts it had picked up earlier. He had his rifle clutched in one hand, his triggerfinger itching as he was angry at the spirits for their earlier stunt. Looking around with his eyes as well, he instantly shifted his gaze to the display of the scanner when it reacted to something spectral nearby, but seeing it, chills ran down his spine, for there weren't one or two contacts, but six.

"Uh-oh…"

Both Snakepit and Bobby appeared in front of the Ghostbreaker, one on each side, one with a multitude of snakes in his mouth and the other with his head in his hands. The Ghostbreaker let out a scream of shock and fear, and tried to blast the spirits with the rifle, only for both of them to disappear before the beam connected with either of them.

Shortly after, his entire body felt numb and his nerves became completely shot, had he had hair it would have stood on end. Subtle laughter carried on the wind, with no discernible point of origin, then came an ear-shattering shriek that made him double over in pain as he covered his ears. When the sound finally died down, and the shaken Ghostbreaker stumbled back on his feet, another ghost had appeared in front of him.

The Banshee Cecilia again used her Terror Incarnate, supported by the Dread of both Gravedigger and Alphonso. The once so strong and stoic Ghostbreaker, finally broke under the combined effort of the Haunters, and as soon as his legs would allow, he ran for the exit of the grave-field.

* * *

The black haired female sat behind a large tombstone, trying to calm down by taking slow and deep breathes. But her calm was about to be interrupted, and her Nerves felt Shattered, thanks to Jack, and when Snakepit's Creepers rose up from the ground around her, the thick vines caused her great discomfort. Rising to her feet, she readied her rifle and nervously scanned her surroundings, but as she turned her head to the side, she came face to face with a smiling Jack, the two blinking once each before she came to her senses.

"Boo!" Jack yelled before just vanishing, but it was still enough to make the mortal jump.

"Wh-where did you go?! Show yourself!" she shouted, waving her rifle all over the place.

Unknown to her, Puddles were circling around her, jumping happily on her tiny cloud as she charged up her Surge power. The electronics within the rifle and the backpack-sized machine sparked violently as the electricity erupted from them, electrocuting the poor Ghostbreaker a second time since she had encountered Josette's team.

When the surge finally ended, the mortal simply collapsed on the ground, and when the ghosts inspected her, they found that she had fainted.

"This will work nicely." Josette's said with a smirk. "Jessibell, would you be so kind?"

"Of course."

Binding herself to the fainted Ghostbreaker, Jessibell didn't waste any time using Sleep Walk on her, causing her to rise back to her feet. In that state, the mortal would be kept asleep indefinitely, or at least until she was released by the ghosts, and would wander around, providing a mobile fetter for the Sandman, giving them a far greater reach for their powers.

* * *

By the time that the blonde Ghostbreaker could finally resume her mission, she had no idea what had happened to her co-workers, and the fact that all other mortals had already been scared away from the area was also not known to her. Wiping her mouth with her sleeve, she grabbed her rifle and started looking for her colleagues.

"Carl? Tammy? Where area you?" she called out as she searched among the gravestones, but she didn't get any response.

After a few minutes, however, she spotted something in the darkness, a person seemingly wandering aimlessly.

"Hello? Who's there?" she asked, but got no response. As the two got closer to each other, she recognised the stranger, as it was the sleep-walking Ghostbreaker.

"Tammy?! Where did you go to?! Are you even listening to me?! Wait… are you sleeping? What's going on here?"

Before she could get any answer, not that anyone would answer her, the lantern that the invisible Jessibell held flared up, and a pulse of power was released against the last Ghostbreaker, and she instantly fell asleep on the ground. With that done, Jessibell continued by using Aura Reading to uncover the conscious fears of the two mortals, not that they actually needed to know the black haired mortal's, as she was already past her limit and would flee as soon as she woke up, but it could prove useful in the future.

Josette smiled when she saw the information in her handbook on the two Ghostbreakers update. The black haired Tammy had a deep fear of being hunted, while the blonde, Louise as she was named, had a fear of blood.

With that information in hand, Josette let Jessibell continue, the female Sandman shifting from one sleeping mortal to the other, and once ready, she used Dream Demon, a strong power that used the known fears of a mortal to conjure up horrible nightmares based on them.

* * *

The dreams that haunted poor Louise were laced with the powers of the Spirit Realm. She was running through a dark, forested area, crying and screaming as blood erupted as geysers all around her. Every nook and cranny, every branch and leaf on the trees, even random spots in the air seeped with crimson blood.

There was no escaping it, and she knew it.

They had gotten her.

* * *

Back in the land of the awake, the ghosts readied themselves for leaving, for as soon as both Ghostbreakers woke up, they would flee just like their male colleague, and the mission would be complete.

It took a few minutes, but one after the other, the two women woke up and ran as fast as they could after regaining their bearings. And as soon as they both passed outside the border of the haunting, the portal back to the Ghoul Room opened once again, allowing the team to return home in peace.

* * *

Back in the Ghoul Room, the new members were happily welcomed by the rest of the team, getting shown around the premise, and allowing the all to pick out a favourite spot.

Jessibell found another queen sized bed on the top floor, in the apartment next to Josette's. She also kindly asked that they don't forget to wake her up from time to time.

The nun Cecilia settled in the hallway together with fellow Banshee Netty, and the cat Horde Jefferson, casually talking and getting to know each other better.

Being a former undertaker, Alphonso moved to the basement together with Gravedigger, both being comfortable in the depths with all the earth beneath them.

 **Finally! This chapter is sooo overdue! You wouldn't believe what a bother the block has been to me this time. I guess it could have something to do with the two other crossovers I'm working on at the same time might be partially to blame.**

 **New pics will be up on my De** **viantart page within a week, I hope.**

 **Now for some notes: Alphonso is based on the undertaker Monsieur Alphonse from _Allo Allo._ Unintentional, but I love that show.**

 **And... I think that's it. Hmm... Oh! Wait! Almost forgot. My wife and I have just bought a house, and are moving out from our apartment in just a few months. My writing might get delayed because of this, like one might expect, but it will continue, I promise.  
**

 **See you all soon! :)**


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